Friday night’s showdown between top-seeded Westhill and third-seeded Norwalk in the FCIAC finals certainly lived up to the hype. The atmosphere was electric and the intensity was high, as two of the top players in the FCIAC – Westhill’s Jeremiah Livingston and Norwalk’s Roy Kane Jr. – took turns making clutch shots for their respective teams.
After 32 minutes of back-and-forth action, Westhill pulled out a hard-fought 64-60 win for their first conference championship since the 1988-89 season. The Vikings (22-1) were powered by the sensational play of Livingston, who scored a game-high 40 points en route to earning MVP honors. The Bears tried several things to contain the talented Livingston, switching to a 3-2 in the second half. But like many squads this season, Norwalk had no answer for Livingston, who makes driving to the basket in traffic and swooping to the hoop on a fastbreak seem easy.
An indication of how things were going to transpire for Livingston occurred early, when he nailed a 3-pointer from the right side in the game’s opening minute. Westhill coach Howard White said he knew Livingston was going to have a big night as soon as he saw him hit his first shot of the night. The Bears used a 2-2-1 press for much of the first half and caused numerous turnovers with it, before the Vikings settled down.
Kane scored 16 first-half points, helping Norwalk take a 29-28 edge at the break. Livingston, meanwhile, was the offense for the Vikings, scoring 21 of the team’s 28 points. At one point, he had 14 of the Vikings’ first 17 points. A pivotal 9-2 run at the beginning of the fourth quarter put Westhill on top, 51-49. Five points in a row by Norwalk made it 54-51, but Westhill went on an 8-0 run over a four-minute plus span, to take a 59-54 advantage. All eight of the Vikings’ points during the spurt were from the foul line.
Livingston made six of those free throws and eight in the final quarter for Westhill, which shot an impressive 22 of 27 from the foul line. Norwalk didn’t go to the line as much, but was effective when it did, shooting 11 of 13 from the charity stripe. Forward Tyrell Alexander chipped in 12 points and guard CJ Donaldson had eight for the victors, who played strong defensively – especially in the second half. Guard Zaire Wilson had 14 points, while guard Matt Jarrett scored nine for the Bears. Kudos to both teams for outstanding performances in a game that had fans on the edge of their seats.
Here’s the game story on Westhill’s championship win: http://bit.ly/1wcGJhS
