Sunday, March 8, 1998

Lipan boys headed to state championship

By AL PICKETT / Abilene Reporter-News

Lipan took a page out of its past -- and the Indians are going back to the Class A state tournament for the first time since they were state champions in 1994.

Jarrod Westmorland hit a running jumper in the lane with two seconds left, giving Lipan a dramatic 56-54 victory Saturday over District 22-A rival Brock in the Region II-A championship game at McMurry University's Kimbrell Arena.

"It was a set play," Lipan coach Tommy Bleeker said. "You might say that's an old Cody Chandler (who now plays at Hardin-Simmons University) play. That was his bread-and-butter play when we won the state championship in 1994. We went back to it.

"I knew it would be a tough game. We're pretty evenly matched. But we had the last shot, and it went in, thank God."

Lipan took a timeout with 35 seconds remaining after Michael Barnes of Brock had made 1 of 2 free throws with 46 seconds left to tie the score, 54-54.

The Indians ran the clock down to 9.43 seconds and then took another timeout to set up the final shot.

Following the timeout, Lipan got the ball to Westmorland on the left wing. Westmorland penetrated on the dribble and then swished a guarded running jumper in the lane.

"It was a set play for me," Westmorland said. "I was going to take it whatever way the defense took me. It was a clear-out to me. I just threw it up and it went in."

The two teams, only 15 miles apart, were co-champions in District 22-A this season and split their two previous meetings.

But none of the previous 11 quarters was as bizarre as the fourth quarter of Saturday's championship game.

Brock seemingly had the momentum when Bowen Smith nailed a jumper from the top of the circle at the third-quarter buzzer to give the Eagles a 52-48 lead. But Brock failed to score a field goal in the final eight minutes.

In fact, the Eagles were 0 of 5 from the field and 2 of 6 from the foul line in the fourth quarter.

Lipan switched to a 3-2 zone defense to open the final stanza, trying to buy post Shane Trickey, who was in foul trouble, some extra time on the court. Brock then pulled it out, electing to run time off the clock.

Although Lipan switched back to its man-to-man defense a couple of minutes later, Brock stayed in its spread offense. Obviously, the strategy backfired since the Eagles scored only two points in the final eight minutes.

"Congratulations to Lipan; they made the plays and we didn't. That's all I have to say," Brock coach Jim Vaszauskas said, refusing to discuss his team's fourth-quarter performance.

"They had the momentum," Bleeker said of Brock's fourth-quarter strategy. "He's a great coach and he knows his team. But we never stall because you lose momentum. He let Trickey stay in the game by doing that."

Brock called timeout with two seconds left, following Westmorland's bucket. After the timeout, they threw a pass to near midcourt, calling another timeout with 1.46 seconds left.

This time the Eagles got the ball in to Barnes, but his shot from just inside the half-court line fell short at the final buzzer, costing Brock a return trip to Austin.

The game was tight throughout. Neither team ever led by more than six points, and the game was tied on 10 different occasions.

Westmorland had 13 and Monty Edwards 12 points to pace Lipan, which will take a 31-6 record to Austin next week.

Lance Welch had 15, Barnes 13 and Bowen Smith for 12 points for Brock, which ends its season with a 32-6 record.

Boys

BROCK (54) -- Bryce Farmer 2-4 0-0 5, Spencer Branch 1-5 3-8 5, Lance Welch 6-12 3-5 15, Josh Parker 1-1 0-0 2, Michael Barnes 4-13 5-6 13, James Gilbert 0-1 0-0 0, Casey Martin 1-2 0-0 2, Bwoen Smith 6-13 0-1 12, Totals 21-51 11-20 54.

LIPAN (56) -- Chance Westmorland 3-7 0-0 8, Kelly Wartes 0-0 0-0 0, Jarrod Westmorland 6-16 0-1 13, Bobby Massey 1-2 0-0 2 Steve Tarpley 2-9 1-2 6, Alex Garrett 0-1 0-0 0, Monty Edwards 5-9 0-1 12, Josh Harwell 2-3 0-0 4, Paul Bailey 1-1 2-2 4, Shane Trickey 2-2 3-6 7, Totals 22-50 6-12 56.

Brock / 14 / 12 / 26 / 2--54

Lipan / 12 / 14 / 22 / 8--56

3-point goals -- Brock 1-8 (Farmer 1-2, Branch 0-1, Barnes 0-2, Gilbert 0-1, Smith 0-2), Lipan 6-14 (C. Westmorland 2-3, J. Westmorland 1-4, Tarpley 1-3, Edwards 2-4). Rebounds -- Brock 37 (Smith 9), Lipan 33 (J. Westmorland 9, Trickey 9). Fouls -- Brock 16, Lipan 19. Fouled out -- none. Technicals -- none.

Records -- Lipan 31-6, Brock 32-6.