Trojans struggle in substate semifinal against Burlington

The boys basketball team fell to Burlington 53-63 on Feb. 25 and finished the season with a 14-9 record.

Christian Barnes ’22 reacts as he makes his way off the court for the final time as a Trojan after the substate semifinal against Burlington on Feb. 25.

Owen Aanestad, Online Editor-In-Chief
February 26, 2022

Riding their longest losing streak of the season the boys basketball team came into the substate semifinal game in desperate need of some confidence if they wanted to keep their hopes up for a trip to Wells Fargo Arena. On the other hand, the red-hot Burlington Greyhounds made the trip north with one intention: taking down the Trojans for the first time ever alongside punching their ticket to the substate final game. The West High boys basketball team fell to Burlington 53-63 on Feb. 25 and finished the season with a 14-9 record.

The Trojan offense got right to work feeding Pete Moe ’22 in the paint where he picked up the bucket and the foul to give West their first lead of the night. Another and-one from freshman Jack McCaffery and a triple from Jacob Koch ’23 gave the Trojans an early 16-8 lead over the Greyhounds.

Burlington worked their way into the paint as well drawing two early fouls from Moe. Without the Trojans’ leading scorer on the court, the West High offense began to struggle. Some costly turnovers and poor transition defense from the Trojans opened the door for Burlington late in the second quarter. With the help of a McCaffery three and Christian Barnes ’22 layup West went into the break leading 27-25.

The Greyhounds came out of halftime ready to roll as they jumped out to a 10-0 run and a five-point lead over the Trojans three minutes into the third quarter. Jacob Koch ’23 responded with a corner three but the frustration continued to build on both ends of the floor for the Trojans. After being outscored 23-12 in the third, West went into the fourth down 39-48. Burlington scored four unanswered points to open the quarter to extend their lead to 13. As the Trojans began to use up their fouls and time started to tick on West High’s season Burlington continued to score in transition and from the line. The Greyhounds took down the Trojans 53-63 to advance to the substate final and end West High’s season.