The Westside boys varsity basketball team moves to 5-3 on the year after going 1-1 in the Metro Holiday Tournament. In the first round, the Warriors matched up against a 1-5 Omaha Bryan team who they beat soundly 85-44. Sophomore Tate Odvody had a stellar performance with 26 points and seven rebounds. Junior Reggie Thomas did a bit of everything with 18 points, six assists, and four rebounds. Junior guard Payson Gillespie would add on some insurance 13 points, five rebounds, and three assists. With the win, the Warriors moved on to the second round where they would face their rival Creighton Prep. Despite having a big lead early they lost a narrow game 61-57. Tate Odvody had another great game with 26 points and 8 rebounds. Chandler Meeks also had a solid performance with 12 points and 3 assists but the Warriors would blow a second-quarter 19 point lead. Head Coach Jim Simons felt disappointed with the loss but sees some positives where the team is improving. 

“We have shown flashes and abilities of playing very good basketball and being a very good team but in every game we have gone through stretches of not being disciplined defensively and forcing shots that we shouldn’t take,” Simons said. “We have to become disciplined for all 32 minutes.”

With the loss to the third-ranked Jr. Jays, the Warriors are now 0-3 on the season up against ranked opponents. In all three of their games against ranked opponents, the Warriors have held momentum out of the first quarter but second and third quarter runs have been devastating for the team. Simons feels the team needs to limit the runs.

“We got off to a great start and just have to find a way to withstand the run that team will throw at us,” Simons said. “We are a very young and sometimes immature team and we just have to become more mature and stop the runs of other teams.”

While facing Omaha Bryan for their next game, the Warriors are headed into the heart of their schedule. Simons feels that going forward, practices are going to get very important to get the changes they need.

“These next two weeks of practice we gotta get stronger and not just show up to practice just to show up,” Simons said. “We have to make improvements to beat teams like this and so on. We know we’ll be fine, we have a whole lot of season ahead of us.”

The Warriors saw a lack of ability to finish games last year as well. Junior Chandler Meeks had much of the same feeling about the loss.

“In the second quarter, that’s what really killed us,” Meeks said. “We had a chance to put the game away easily. Besides that, that one quarter is what held us back, we played strong in the third and fourth quarter. If we can contain how we play the whole thirty-two minutes we’ll be fine. It’s not the fourth quarter we’re worried about, it’s that second quarter after we got on our big run.”

The Warriors this season have been known for their high-tempo offense and quick transition defense. Meeks feels that there is one thing in particular that allows for the teams’ comfortability within their high tempo style.

“Ball movement. If we move the ball like we did in the first couple minutes of the game we’ll be fine. We just got to be stronger and a lot more physical as a team, and have to understand that these teams aren’t no unranked teams, or average teams that we can beat by twenty plus points. We can’t take our opponent for granted,” Meeks said.

 With lots of room for improvement, Simons and the team have almost two weeks until their next game. Having to focus on closing games out and playing good basketball. Working on lots of ball movement and getting more chemistry down on the court.