HS Boys Basketball: Westside takes Region 3 road win at Liberty

Renegades outscore the Raiders 21-5 over the final nine minutes of the game

The battles in Class AA Region 3 boys basketball this year could be anybody's game night in and night out.

For the better part of three quarters Friday night, that proved to be the case when Liberty hosted Westside.

Unfortunately for the home-standing Raiders, the final nine minutes belonged soley to the Renegades.

When the final horn sounded, a one-point third quarter game had turned into a 53-36 win for the boys from Wyoming County.

Westside head coach Michael Asbury talked about the win which moved the Renegades to 2-0 on the young season.

Liberty's only lead of the contest came on a Zay Kincaid 3-ball to start the game, but was quickly answered by Westside's Braydyn Waldron.

The Renegades took a 15-9 lead after one quarter which became a 28-18 advantage at the break.

Powered by some strong play to the basket from Jaxon Workman, the home team began to peck away at the deficit out of the locker room.

The 10-point margin dwindled to just one-point following a 3-point play from Kincaid and a layup from Liam Daniels with 1:31 to play in the third period.

Asbury called a timeout to calm the tide and his team responded in kind.

Cooper Hatfield banked in a jumper ahead of a steal and a layup from Hendrix Cook to give Westside a 36-31 lead with eight minutes to play.

Liberty opened the final stanza with the ball, but when the Raiders could not score, the Renegades tacked on four more big points to spread the lead.

Jacob Mullins grabbed an offensive rebound which led to a bucket from Waldron and Ethan Cline scored his only points of the night for a 40-31 lead.

Parker Hodges scored for Liberty to stop the run momentarily, but the home team failed to score again until Daniels hit a 3-ball with 1:01 to play.

Westside outscored Liberty 17-5 in the fourth quarter alone.

Waldron led the Renegades with 16 points, while Ethan Walls added 11 and Hendrix Cook scored 10.

Daniels paced the Raiders with 14 and Kincaid added nine.

W: 15 13 8 17 - 53

L: 9 9 13 5 - 36

Westside

Braydyn Waldron 16, Jacob Mullins 6, Ethan Cline 2, Ethan Walls 11, Hendrix Cook 10, Cooper Hatfield 4, Breyden Vance 2, Logan McNeely 2. Totals: 21 10-16 53

Liberty

Liam Daniels 14, Jaxson Workman 4, Zay Kincaid 9, Parker Hodges 4, Aiden Tabor 3, Landon Lusk 2. Totals: 15 2-5 36.

3-pointers: W 1 (Waldron); L:4 (Daniels, Workman 2, Kincaid)

Liberty head coach Chad Williams gave his thoughts after the game.