Westview boys take care of Jackson Christian

MARTIN — Playing at home in a tournament that Westview hosts, the Chargers wanted to come out with a good performance playing for the first time in two weeks.

Jackson Christian wanted to play tough competition to be ready for a tough upcoming District 15-A schedule.

Both teams accomplished what they wanted to as Westview advanced to the championship game of the Martin Lions Club Christmas Tournament with an 88-64 victory over Jackson Christian on Tuesday at Westview.

“It was OK, but it probably wasn’t as good as it could have been,” Westview coach Mike Greer said. “You are going to have a little jet-lag, but you have to credit Jackson Christian with that. They had an uplifting win the night before.”

Westview (9-2) plays District 13-AA foe Obion County in the championship at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, while Jackson Christian (9-4) plays Dyer County in the third-place game.

Having not played since a win over Liberty two weeks ago, the Chargers were less than polished at times.

“There was a little bit of rust early,” Westview senior Garrett Sams said. “It is difficult to try and practice at that level. But we got our breath back in us.

“I thought we did a good job getting out in transition, B.J. White did a good job in that, and Matt McMillan hit some 3-pointers in the second half.

But Westview scored 22 points in the first quarter to get the offense flowing early.

The Chargers drove to the basket and got to the free throw line for and-one opportunities.

Westview had three players score in double figures led by B.J. White with 19. Sams added 16, and Justin Johnson had 15.

“We weren’t looking for anything specific in this one, but we wanted to get out there and run our stuff,” Greer said. “We sometimes have game-slippage, where we practice at one level but slip in a game.”

Jackson Christian struggled to defend against the multiple guards that Westview threw at them and the size of Justin Johnson inside.

But the Chargers are also one of the best teams Jackson Christian has seen yet this year. Josh Cole helped to keep the Eagles in the game with clutch shots when Westview tried to pull away. Cole finished with a team-high 20, while Garrett Hopkins added 14.

“First off, we wanted to compete, and at times we did,” Jackson Christian coach J.D. Byrd said. “At other times, we didn’t. We tried to play at their pace, and against a team like that, we needed to slow it down. They did a good job hurrying us up.

“I got in this tournament to see great competition, not get easy wins. These games will help us against TCA, Middleton and Adamsville in district play.”

The Chargers went into the halftime break with a 19-point lead, but Jackson Christian outscored them 11-7 to start the second half and showed it wasn’t giving up.

Westview hit four 3-pointers though late in the quarter – two by McMillan and two by Kevon Hess – to extend the lead to 26 with eight minutes to play.

Now for the championship game tomorrow, the matchup is not one Greer likes.

“I personally don’t like to play district opponents in a Christmas tournament,” he said. “That is the hand we were dealt, and we are going to come out and do the best we can.”

Michael Odom, 425-9751