Westside gears up for region tournament, rolls past Peach County

There was little doubt as to which team was going to win Friday's regular-season boys basketball finale between Westside and Peach County.

Sitting in second place in GHSA Region 2-AAA, the Seminoles were expected to easily handle the last-place Trojans. They did just that, winning 83-34.

In a game that became a dunk-fest late in the second quarter, Westside (20-5, 14-2 Region 2-AAA) led by 21 after eight minutes and had a 55-10 lead at halftime.

Ten players scored for Westside, led by Khavon Moore's 19 points. Jared Johnson had 21 points for Peach County (2-22, 1-15), scoring all but five of the Trojans' second-half points.

THREE WHO MATTERED

Moore: Westside's highly talented sophomore didn't start on senior night, and the Seminoles already had a double-digit lead when he scored his first bucket with 2:12 to go in the first quarter. But he had his share of exciting plays, including a couple of entertaining dunks in the second quarter.

Samone Reed: The Westside junior point guard had 16 points off the bench, notching the Seminoles' final two buckets of the first quarter to give Westside a 28-7 lead.

Johnson: On an otherwise bleak night for Peach County, the junior provided a bright spot with a strong second half. He hit four 3-pointers after the break, scoring 19 of his 21 points after halftime.

TURNING POINT

Westside began the game with an 11-2 run.

OBSERVATIONS

Strong defense: Westside induced 10 Peach County turnovers in the first quarter, most coming on steals and charging calls.

High-scoring Seminoles: Westside beat its season scoring average by 10 points despite playing shorter quarters in the second half. The third and fourth quarters were reduced to six minutes each.

WORTH MENTIONING

Position round: Central's 83-72 victory Friday over Jordan officially established Westside as the No. 2 seed for next week's Region 2-AAA tournament. The Seminoles finished a game behind the Chargers for the regular-season title. With the No. 2 seed, Westside is guaranteed one of the region's four spots in the Class AAA tournament.

ALSO FRIDAY NIGHT

Peach County's girls closed out the regular season with a 65-39. Four players scored in double figures for Peach County, led by Alexia Green's 16 points, as the Trojans (22-2, 14-2) head into the region tournament as the No. 2 seed. Ni'Aira Dawson had 16 points for Westside (13-11, 7-9).

THEY SAID IT

Westside head coach Josh Grube on what he wanted to get out of Friday's game: "I wanted to have them build some momentum heading into the region tournament since we're not going to play for six days. We focused on getting a better start; we've been going down nine, 10 points to start and I've had to call a timeout. We had to focus on that, and we got off to a real good start (Friday)."

WHAT'S NEXT?

Region tournament competition is the next item on the agenda for all four teams. Peach County's boys will take on the No. 8 seed on Monday at Southwest, while Westside's girls will take part in second-round play Tuesday at the site of the girls' No. 5 seed. The Westside boys and Peach County girls are off until Thursday's semifinals, with the boys playing at Central and the girls playing at Kendrick.

This story was originally published February 5, 2016 at 10:44 PM with the headline "Westside gears up for region tournament, rolls past Peach County ."