High school boys basketball: No. 1 Westlake stays red hot, improves to 16-0 with blowout win over Mountain Ridge

Westlake equaled a school record with its 16^th straight victory on Friday night, and the top-ranked Thunder don’t show any signs of slowing down either.

Westlake never trailed after scoring the game’s first 10 points — and led by as many as 28 in the third quarter — on its way to the dominant 80-65 victory over visiting Mountain Ridge in a Region 2 clash.

Brody Thompson went off for 25 points for Westlake, while three of his teammates scored in double figures as the Thunder shot 50% from the field to improve to 16-0.

“A big part of it is guys are willing to share the ball, too. Be willing to sacrifice a little bit and just find the best shot,” said Westlake coach Nate Carling.

“I think that’s really what makes this team special is they’re just unselfish and not worried about who’s going to score.”

Since the UHSAA expanded to six classifications for the 2017-18 school year, only one other 6A boys basketball team has stayed perfect this deep into the season.

The 2020-21 Davis Darts won their first 16 games just like Westlake this year, but the Darts lost their 17^th game that year.

Westlake hosts Herriman next Tuesday as it looks to set a new school record with its 17^th straight victory.

“We’re just trying to enjoy the moment. That’s what I’ve learned after doing this for so long, is when these years come, you gotta enjoy it,” said Carling, who’s in his 12^th year as head coach at Westlake.

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Carling isn’t worried about the pressure of the winning streak getting to his players either.

“It doesn’t feel heavy at all. It doesn’t feel like it’s a something where ‘Oh, we gotta keep this win streak going.’ It’s just trying to show up and play, and you want to win every game you play, and so that’s just the mindset,” Carling said.

As great as Westlake’s offense was on Friday in reaching 80 points for just the third time this season, Carling believes his team’s defense is underrated and doesn’t get talked about enough.

Westlake’s defense held Mountain Ridge to just 19 points in the first half — equaling a season low — and only allowed one 3-pointer. For a team averaging nearly 10 3s a game, shutting things down along the perimeter was a big deal.

“Our emphasis was really to be up on top of those shooters, high hands, and I thought we really did a good job,” said Carling. “We knew this team could really shoot it and they were confident. Half their points typically come from the 3-point line.”

Westlake held Mountain Ridge to just 25% shooting in the first half in building the 33-19 lead.

In addition to struggling from behind the arc, the Sentinels struggled at the rim as well as countless contested shots in the paint rolled off the rim.

“That’s something we take a lot of pride in. Our pregame, everything is defense, defense, defense. I trust our offense that they’re going to do what they do, so we spend a lot of time game planning defensively,” said Carling.

For Westlake, knowing that a 14-point deficit is far from insurmountable, it didn’t let up in the third quarter.

It scored on six straight possessions coming out of halftime — including three straight 3-pointers during one stretch by Graydin Anderson and Lincoln Norwood — as that lead quickly swelled to 48-25 just three minutes into the third quarter.

Westlake’s largest lead of the game was 28 points at 60-32 late in the fourth quarter.

With the outcome well in hand, Mountain Ridge finally found an offensive rhythm in the fourth quarter and started hitting those contested shots at the rim and 3-pointers as well.

In fact, the Sentinels scored on 14 of 15 possessions in the fourth in outscoring Westlake 29-18.

The lead never dipped below a dozen points though as Westlake’s offense made four 3-pointers in the quarter to ensure the easy win.

Anderson chipped in 16 points for Westlake, with Malik Sika adding 15 and Norwood 14.

Mountain Ridge was led in the loss by Isaac Langston, who scored 16 points.