Westwood’s Zachary Carlson drives to the basket against Ishpeming’s Ben Pruett during the game on Friday Jan. 17, 2019 at Westwood Highschool. (Journal photo by Amy Grigas)

ISHPEMING — Zachary Carlson may only be a sophomore at Westwood High School but he can certainly put a game on his back.

He did just that on Friday night, notching 12 of the Patriots’ 15 fourth quarter points to negate any chance at a comeback for crosstown rival Ishpeming in a 60-48 home win over the Hematites.

Carlson finished with 25 total points, with 21 of those coming in the second half, to lead all scorers as Westwood improved to 6-2 on the season. The Patriots also completed the regular season sweep of Ishpeming (2-5) and it was their fifth straight win over the Hematites dating back to the 2017-18 season.

Despite holding the lead for nearly 30 out of 32 minutes, Westwood head coach Scott Syrjala felt his team started off flat and let the Hematites back into the mix too often.

“I’ll be honest, I thought we came out dead (tonight),” he said. “We shouldn’t have to say anything when we’re playing Ishpeming. You can’t come out and lay an egg. I said to the kids that we’re going to get their best shot. Give Ishpeming credit, they played hard right up until the end and I didn’t think we did.

“As a team, we had one or two guys that were still kind of playing. I look and Zach has 12 of our 15 points in the fourth quarter. I mean that’s good for Zach, he’s going to the hole and getting fouled, but it just seems like we were content. I think we had a 17-point lead three different times (tonight). I thought we should’ve been able to put them away. Credit Ishpeming too. They kept playing through it and kept playing hard. Our kids have got to start finding a way, and start learning how to put people away.”

Syrjala also credited seniors Erik Anderson and Ty Alderton for their efforts on both ends of the ball.

“I thought Erik did a good job on (Ishpeming senior) Jacob Kugler,” he said. “He had 17 or 18 against us the first time and he had 10 (tonight). Out of those 10, I’d say two maybe were on Erik. He did the best he could and I thought he did a great job.

“I thought Ty Alderton also played a great game. He had 10 points, we got him going early, but I thought he should’ve had 30 or 40 and I’m not lying, but our guards have got to be able to get him the ball. There wasn’t any high ball pressure. We settled for jump shots in the second and third quarters and that’s when (Ishpeming) made a run. At halftime, we specifically said don’t shoot the jump shots. We need to drive to the hole and draw the foul, or make the layup. The gaps were there and we didn’t do that. All of a sudden, a 17-point lead evaporated down to nine.

“The kids, they’ve got to start doing what we’re asking them to do. It’s the simple things. Don’t shoot the ball from the outside, drive to the hole. Pump fake and drive to the hole. That’s going to win us the game, keep us in the lead, and get us to the foul line which is where we’re good.

“I’m proud of our kids for beating their crosstown rival twice, but we’re still trying to get to a certain spot. We played for three quarters, the second, third and fourth in the Gladstone game. We played great defense, the offense was moving, but it starts with our guards. We’ve got to get better.”

Westwood operated in a half-court press out of the gates, which ultimately made Ishpeming struggle early on. The Hematites turned the ball over multiple times in the first half, which led to points for the Patriots on the other end.

“Between turnovers and second chance opportunities, those guys are too good to when they miss a shot, we’ve got to get going the other way with it,” Ishpeming head coach George Niemi said. “We can’t give them another crack at it because they’re just too good.

“Of course turnovers too. We didn’t handle their press right away but we made some adjustments and we were able to handle it and pull them out of it. It frustrated their coach and we were able to take advantage of that by going on an 8-0 run in the fourth quarter.

Niemi deemed the game a tale of two halves and was also pleased with senior John Corkin, who led the Hematites on the scoreboard with 13 points.

“The way we handled the second half, if we played the first half like we did the second half, it’s a real different ball game,” he said. “I liked the way John Corkin played, I liked the way we handled the press in the second half, which gave us some opportunities. I liked the way we moved the basketball. Really, the second half compared to the first half were two different halves.”

Corkin opened the scoring with a quick layup to make it 2-0 Ishpeming, but two Hematites fouls and three successful free throw attempts put the Patriots up 3-2 early and in the lead for good. Westwood led 12-6 after one quarter and 28-16 at the break.

After falling into a 17-point deficit entering the fourth, with the Patriots leading 45-28, a quick triple from Corkin, a putback shot from senior Chase Jensen and another three-ball from senior Otto Swanson suddenly cut Westwood’s lead to nine points before Syrjala called timeout to regroup his players.

Moments later, after three more Westwood free throws, and a 2-pointer from Corkin to make it a 9-point game again, Patriots senior Taylor Dellangelo and Carlson each made consecutive buckets to pull the lead back into double digits at 52-39.

Another trey from Corkin with under two minutes to play got the Hematites as close as eight points at 55-47, but it was a free throw game from there with Westwood sinking 5 of 6 from the charity stripe in the final minutes to put the game out of reach.

Westwood shot 18 of 49 from the field and picked up 17 rebounds with Alderton collecting seven. Free throws played a partial role in the Patriots’ offense as well, going 23 of 31 at the line.

Dellangelo followed Carlson with 16 points while Alderton finished with 10. Sophomore Zach Beckman added seven while senior Mason Mariuzza had two.

Corkin and Kugler were followed up in Ishpeming scoring by senior Breck Bell with eight points. Senior Gavin Argall and sophomore Jayce Kipling each added six. Swanson chipped in with three while Jensen had two. Shooting and rebounding statistics for Ishpeming weren’t available, though the Hematites went 7 of 11 at the line.

Ishpeming visits UPSSA No. 3 Marquette (6-2) on Tuesday, while Westwood hosts No. 4 Escanaba (5-4).

Email Ryan Spitza at sports@miningjournal.net.