And the men in stripes had a little something to do with it. They whistled the two teams for a total of 61 fouls that led to 83 free throws.
“I was ready to go into the stands to get some more players,” Wolverine coach Phil Hart said of the foul problems that began besetting both teams in the first quarter.
In the end, the Patriots outlasted the visitors in a barnburner, 81-77, keeping their outside shot at third place in the conference and an automatic bid to the state playoffs alive.
The Patriots, now 7-5 in the Mid-Southeastern Conference and 16-6 overall, were sparked by Jarrin Wooten with 19 points in about 15 minutes of action off the bench. Starter Trevor McDonald added a “quiet” 15 points on five threes, at least one coming in each quarter.
“I thought it was a game of runs,” Patriot coach Mike Apple said. “If we played five minutes more, they might be ahead now.”
The two teams fought to a draw in a first period of man-to-man, hand-to-hand combat that resulted in a total of 21 fouls.
Wooten, a 6-foot-3 freshman, took the court for the first time midway through the second period and played a big part in the game’s first real run.
First he drove across the lane and attacked the rim for what became a three-point play, cutting a five-point Wolverine lead to two.
On the next Patriot possession, he fed John Eddy for the first of the latter’s two consecutive baskets. A three by McDonald and a putback by Wooten completed a 12-2 spurt, making it 36-29 in favor of Pinecrest.
Wooten went five for six from the foul line in the last 1:20 of the half, giving him 10 points and the Patriots a 41-36 lead.
Almost everyone seeing action had at least two fouls. Steve Burch, who scored 33 points in the Wolves’ overtime win over the Patriots last month, picked up his fourth in the first 30 seconds after halftime.
“One of the hard parts about high school basketball,” Apple said, “is adjusting to how the officials are going to call the game. We played at Richmond on Wednesday and half of those fouls tonight wouldn’t have been called. Certainly the kids have to adjust to how the game is being called, but for high school kids that’s a hard thing to do.
“Westover and us are just about mirror images with our press and man-to-man defense. When you continue to foul, it becomes a war of attrition. The officials were consistent in the way they called the game.”
Moments after Burch took a seat, the Wolves’ Paul Goldsmith tied the game at 41-41 with a dunk. Later the visitors appeared to have the upper hand after a three by Andre McLain gave them a 56-52 edge.
But Wooten reentered the game and scored five quick points to put his team up 57-56.
“The thing I was impressed by with Jarrin tonight,” Apple said, “was that a lot of times you’ll put a kid in there for three or four minutes and he’ll do a great job. But when I reinserted Jarrin in the second half, he played at that same level. It was really impressive for a young kid to do something like that.”
Galberth drove for two and then canned a jumper, and Wooten and Eddy scored inside as the Patriots opened the final period with an 8-1 run. That brought Burch back into the game, but he soon picked up his fifth foul.
Moments later a three by McDonald had the Patriots in front 70-62. But the visitors countered with eight straight points, tying the game at 70-all on another three by McClain at the 1:45 mark.
A turn of events in the home team’s favor came after Kevin Williams scored in transition, giving the Wolves a 72-71 lead with 1:05 left in the game.
The Wolverines were attempting to inbound the ball at the Patriot end when Marcus McLean stole it and was fouled as he made the basket. One of the Wolves threw the ball in frustration, resulting in a technical foul. McLean made only one of three free throws, but when the Patriots brought the ball back into play, he was fouled again and made both for a 76-72 Patriot lead.
The visitors weren’t done. A three-point play by Williams tied the game at 77-77 at the 25.3 mark. Galberth raced up court with abandon, was fouled and made both to put the home team in front for good.
Wooten then secured the rebound off a Wolverine miss, was fouled and calmly made both free throws to complete the scoring.
Galberth thought contributions by a number of players coming off the bench was a key to the victory.
“We knew we had a deeper bench then them,” he said. “We practice with them every day and they step up when we need them.”
A win would have clinched the third playoff spot for the Wolverines. Ranked first in the state two weeks ago, the loss was their fourth straight, dropping them to 8-4 and 16-5.
“It’s been that way the five years I’ve been the head coach at Westover,” Hart said of another grinder against Pinecrest. “They’re a tough team to match up with. They’re all the same size and they’re athletic. They play hard and we play hard. Sometimes it comes down to who has the ball last.”
For Apple, getting put through the wringer is fun when you win.
“I think five dollars was a good price of admission tonight,” he said, “because I think everyone got their money’s worth. Our crowd has really supported us well and that really helps our guys.”
For all of the fouls, only Burch and Kenronte Walker for Westover and Tramaine Pride for Pinecrest fouled out. Neither team took full advantage of all of the chances at the charity stripe. Pinecrest was 28 for 46 to 21 for 37 for Westover.
Westover closes out the regular season with games against Douglas Byrd and Scotland. The Patriots have the tougher road, playing Seventy-First at home at 6 p.m. on Tuesday followed by a game at Byrd on Friday.
Westover 16 20 22 19 — 77
Pinecrest 17 24 18 22 — 81
Westover — McClain 5 8-13 19, Burch 4 5-8 13, Walker 3 2-2 8, Williams 5 2-6 14, Oliver 2 0-0 4, Hayes 2 2-2 6, Henry 1 2-2 5, Goldsmith 4 0-2 8, Paul 0 0-2 0, Foxworth 0 0-0 0. Totals — 26 21-37 77.
Pinecrest — McLean 2 8-14 12, Galbreith 1 3-4 5, McDonald 5 0-0 15, Hargrove 1 1-1 3, Galberth 3 4-9 10, Pride 1 0-1 2, Wooten 5 9-11 19, Core 2 2-4 6, Eddy 3 0-0 6, Henderson 0 1-2 1, Stout 0 0-0 0, McDougald 1 0-0 2, Thomas 0 0-0 0. Totals — 24 28-46 81.
Three-point goals: Westover 4 (Williams 2, McClain, Henry); Pinecrest 5 (McDonald 5).
