Westside makes quick work of Monroe Area, sets up Pace Academy showdown

Thanks to another fast start, Westside is right where it wants to be ... and where most of the state figured it would be.

Westside quickly established control in its GHSA Class 3A second round game Thursday against Monroe Area, rolling to an 88-57 victory.

About the only thing that went wrong for top-ranked Westside was the postgame coin flip for home court advantage for Wednesday's quarterfinal against Pace Academy, ranked second by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and third by Score Atlanta. Pace Academy correctly called heads, meaning Westside (25-3) will have to go to Atlanta for a 6 p.m. contest at Pace Academy’s Inman Center.

Khavon Moore had 29 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Seminoles. Moore, the top-ranked junior in Georgia, will face the state's top senior, Duke signee Wendell Carter, in the quarterfinals.

Monroe Area, which trailed 30-8 after one quarter, was led by Isaiah Glasper's 16 points.

Three who mattered

Terric Allen: The Westside guard made two 3-pointers in the first two minutes and hit another at the 4:33 mark to help the Seminoles get off to a fast start. The nine points off those 3-pointers was his only scoring.

Moore: Westside’s 6-foot-8, five-star phenom had nine points and eight rebounds in the first quarter, and his eight points and three rebounds in the third quarter helped the Seminoles snap a bit of a dry spell.

Glasper: Monroe Area (15-15) showed a bit of life in the third quarter, coming out of halftime with a 9-4 run to cut Westside’s lead down into the teens. Glasper scored seven of those points.

Observations

Another no-doubter: Westside wanted no part of an upset bid this early in the tournament, and the Seminoles got off to their third straight quick start. It took just 3:27 for Westside to establish a double-digit lead, which it did when Allen popped his third 3-pointer to make it 16-5.

Spreading the wealth: Ten of the 13 players Westside had listed in the scorebook scored, with eight having points in the book by the end of the first quarter.

Three’s company: Westside made 12 3-pointers, with Mystikal Wilson coming off the bench to make four of them.

Worth mentioning

Scouting out the Seminoles: Pace Academy’s coaching staff was in attendance, with the Knights playing their second-round game Wednesday, beating Johnson-Savannah 49-41. Pace Academy (24-8) is the Region 5-3A champion.

Streaking into the quarterfinals: Westside is on an 18-game winning streak, with its last loss coming to Scotlandville (Louisiana) on Dec. 28. The Seminoles’ only two losses to GHSA opponents came early in the season, to Norcross and Central. Pace Academy, meanwhile, is on a 14-game winning streak and has lost just one game in Georgia this season, 55-42 at Cedar Grove on Dec. 6. The Knights have played games in Mississippi, Florida, South Carolina and Massachusetts this season.

They said it

Moore on the fast start: “It was very important coming out at the beginning, jumping out and keep playing hard.”

Westside head coach Josh Grube on the lift Allen provided: “Terric really got us going in the first quarter, and we shot the ball really well. We almost shot too many times. Sometimes we didn’t get into our offense and took too many 3s. But they went in early, got us off to a good start, and we were able to hang on.”

Moore on the long-awaited Pace Academy matchup: “The atmosphere is going to be crazy. We just have to come out and play, play as a team, play how we play.”

Grube on the hype surrounding Westside-Pace Academy: “We’re looking forward to it, but it’s not going to be Wendell Carter vs. Khavon Moore. Westside has numerous players on our team, and it’s not going to be a Wendell Carter vs. Khavon Moore game. The game is going to come down to the other players on the floor. We like our guys, and we know Pace Academy has a good team. We’re going to have our hands full, and we’re going to have to get to work on them right away.”

What’s next?

Westside has played its final home game of the season. The Westside-Pace Academy winner advances to the March 4 semifinals at Armstrong Atlantic, with the Class 3A championship slated for 4 p.m. March 9 at Stegeman Coliseum in Athens.

This story was originally published February 23, 2017 at 11:50 PM with the headline "Westside makes quick work of Monroe Area, sets up Pace Academy showdown."