Published Saturday, February 06, 2010

Newnan no match for state-ranked Westlake teams

The Newnan Times-Herald

Give the third-ranked team in the state an inch and it'll take a mile.

That's what happened in the Max Bass Athletic Center Friday night.

The Newnan Cougars played the highly-rated Westlake Lions close and tough for most of the night, but a two and a half minute stretch of defensive breakdowns in the third quarter made the difference.

Westlake went on an 11-0 run and the Cougars saw a four-point lead turn into a seven point deficit and an eventual 63-54 loss.

"We just had way too many breakdowns to beat a good team like Westlake," Newnan coach Harold Goodman said afterwards.

"We especially got hurt in our transition defense there in the third quarter."

Alec Ogletree's old-fashioned three point play with 3:53 left in the third period put Newnan up, 37-33, but the Lions took off from that point and never looked back.

Chad Johnson was especially damaging.

After scoring12 points in the first half, Johnson scored eight in the third period and four in a row on two driving layups that ate through the middle of the Newnan defense.

His last bucket put Westlake ahead to stay at 38-37 with 2:07 left in the third quarter and the Lions extended that to 44-39 by the end of the period.

"We talked about stopping him from doing just that at halftime," Goodman said. "But he was able to do it anyway."

Westlake's surge coincided with Alec Ogletree's being on the bench after picking up his third foul with just over three and half minutes left in the quarter.

He didn't re-enter the game until the beginning of the fourth period.

Newnan didn't help its own cause any with some poor shot selection on offense during that stretch.

"We had several possessions when we didn't run anything," Goodman said. "We're not good enough to free lance, but that's what we were doing."

Zander Ogletree's two free throws pulled Newnan to within two at 46-44 with 4:55 left in the fourth quarter, but the Cougars could get no closer.

Westlake protected its final quarter lead with some deadeye free throw shooting, sinking 11 of 15 in the final eight minutes.

Newnan started fast.

The Cougars took an 11-4 lead on Larry Harden's free throw with 3:22 left in the opening period and were on top, 15-13, at quarter's end.

The two teams battled through four ties in the second period before going into halftime

knotted at 28.

It was the first time in 21 games this year that the Cougars have been tied at intermission.

The third quarter proved fatal to Newnan Friday, however, just as it did when the two teams played at Westlake on Jan. 5.

That night the Cougars trailed by only seven at halftime, but could manage just six points in the third quarter and lost by 18.

Jarrett Coleman paced Newnan (13-8, 11-6 in 4-AAAAA) Friday with 11 points while the Ogletree brothers each scored 10.

Johnson finished with 25 for Westlake (21-2, 15-1).

The Newnan girls lost their game to the 10th-ranked Lady Lions, 74-27.

A 14-0 first quarter run by the Westlake girls pretty much iced the game away.

The Lady Lions led 18-3 after one quarter, 41-13 at halftime and 59-19 going to the fourth period.

Ashley Montgomery led Newnan (6-16, 4-14) with six points while Sharnea Boykin had 15 for Westlake (18-3, 15-1).