High school boys basketball: West Field rallies for big region win over Clearfield

With early-season bragging rights up for grabs in Region 5 on Wednesday night, it was visiting Clearfield — not home West Field — that came out with the type of urgency that such a game required.

Clearfield’s execution at both ends of the floor was sharper from the jump, as it raced to a 14-point lead early in the second quarter in a game where both teams were looking to stay perfect in region play.

West Field spent the rest of the game methodically climbing out of that hole, and thanks to some clutch offensive rebounding and improved perimeter defense in the second half, it rallied for the 58-52 victory.

“We’re proud that they found a way to win. Honestly, we were fortunate to win,” said West Field coach Mike Russell.

Sophomore Drew Faddis led the way with 25 points for West Field, but Russell was quick to highlight a couple of timely 3-pointers by Korver Van Beekum in the third quarter and clutch offensive plays by Karter Rich down the stretch as catalysts to the win.

“We had a huge spark with Van Beekum off the bench. He hit those two shots that kind of got us going. And Karter Rich had some big shots late. Some of our role players are the ones that got our momentum going there in the second half,” said Russell, whose team improved to 10-4 overall after winning its seventh straight game.

The Longhorns improved to 5-0 in Region 5 as well, with Clearfield falling into a second-place tie with Roy at 3-1. With one game remaining in the first half of region play, Russell likes how things are trending for his team.

“We don’t talk a lot about winning the region, but everyone knows that’s the goal,” he said.

West Field’s improved perimeter defense in the second half played a huge role in their come-from-behind win as Clearfield didn’t make a single 3-pointer in the second half after making six in the first half.

Even though West Field was sharper defensively coming out of halftime, offensively it kind of kept sputtering along. Clearfield led 34-28 at the half and upped the cushion slightly by attacking the point and pushing it to 44-35 midway through the quarter.

That’s when Van Beekum came off the bench and scored his first points of the season after the transfer had to sit out the first half of the year. His first 3-pointer cut the deficit to 44-38 at the 2:04 mark of the third, and less than a minute later he drained a baseline 3-pointer, making it a 46-41 game.

His 3s kickstarted a 19-4 run over a six-minute stretch.

“Once we got it within striking distance, our guys, they’ve been resilient all year and we’ve been in close games and we play pretty well here,” said Russell. “It was a bunch of those things just kind of coming together before it was too late. If we would’ve waited till the fourth quarter, I don’t know that we make a run like that.”

With West Field trailing 46-44 heading into the fourth, Rich tied it 46-46 on a lay-up. He could’ve given his team its first lead since 7-6 with the and-one free throw, but West Field grabbed the offensive rebound and Daxton Laughter quickly scored at the rim for the 48-46 lead.

That was one of nine offensive rebounds in the second half for West Field, which it turned into 10 second-chance points. Clearfield, meanwhile, only had two second-chance points after halftime.

After taking the lead, West Field took care of business from the free throw line to ice the victory.

It was frustrating loss for the Falcons after such a great first half in which it shot 65 percent from the field, including making six of eight 3-pointers. They cooled off at the half, though, shooting just 36 percent and zero of eight from behind the arc.

Jack Galvan led the way for Clearfield in their loss with 15 points, with Bode Davis adding 13.