West Springfield Loses Regular-Season Finale

Reflecting on the end of the regular season Friday, West Springfield boys’ basketball coach Jason Eldredge called it a “roller-coaster ride.”

Based on their record, the Spartans have seen more dips than crests. In Friday’s regular-season finale at Fairfax’s W.T. Woodson, West Springfield fell, 62-34.

The slate gets wiped clean, however, with the arrival of the district playoffs. West Springfield (3-17), which finished seventh in the AAA Patriot with a 2-12 mark, visits No. 2 seed Lake Braddock on Tuesday night.

Eldredge was “happy” that his team is facing Lake Braddock, and not No. 3 seed Annandale, in the playoff opener.

“In each of those games [against Lake Braddock] we were in it until the six-minute mark of the fourth quarter,” Eldredge said. Lake Braddock recorded 72-51 and 78-55 wins against West Springfield this season, the most recent meeting Jan. 25 on the Spartans’ home floor.

West Springfield was out of Friday’s game early. The Spartans turned the ball over eight times in the first quarter and didn’t hit a shot from the field until junior forward Sean McMahon’s putback with six seconds left in the period.

West Springfield trailed 18-3 after the first quarter — Woodson’s John Schoof (game-high 17 points) hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer — and 29-11 at intermission.

Eldredge said he was pleased with the way his team limited the Cavaliers’ offense early, holding them under 30 points in the first half.

“We had good first-shot defense,” he said.

The Cavaliers (13-9, 8-6 AAA Patriot) expanded their lead to 27 points (46-17) by the end of the third quarter.

Senior guard Ali Hassan led West Springfield with 12 points, including seven in the second half. Senior forward Ali Kazmi added seven points, and McMahon scored five points.

While Woodson’s offense was strong, Cavaliers’ coach Doug Craig wasn’t worried about scoring so much as holding West Springfield’s offense in check.

“In playoff basketball, your offense is going to come and go, especially against good teams,” Craig said. “Your defense needs to be consistent and it needs to give you a chance to win.”