The Sheffield Wolverines were looking forward to a hot start in 2013.
They got that and then some Wednesday night, kicking off the new year with an easy 56-21 victory over visiting West Forest at Sheffield Area High School.
"It was a nice all-around win for us," said Sheffield coach Todd Fitch. "We had a good, balanced scoring attack with the bench coming out and putting some points up. Everybody was getting good looks at the basket."
Article Photos
Times Observer photo by Ben?Oviatt
Suffocating ‘D’
Sheffield’s Travis Peterson guards a West?Forest opponent as teammate Jimmy Vile (23) looks on during the second half of a varsity boys basketball contest Wednesday at Sheffield Area High?School. The Wolverines started 2013 off on the right foot with a convincing 56-21 victory over the visiting Indians.
The balanced Wolverine attack was led by matching 10-point efforts from Brendan Winslow and Shequan Wright. Dylan McNeal and Dylan Reynolds contributed identical seven point totals.
While the starting five saw limited minutes in the second half, the Sheffield bench got in on the action, scoring 20 more points to seal the win and improve to 5-4 on the year.
Offense wasn't the only story Wednesday night as the Wolverines defense clamped down and only allowed three combined West Forest points between the second and third quarters.
Fact Box
WEST FOREST (21): Thomas 3 0-1 8, McFarland 2 2-4 7, O'Toole 2 2-5 6, Totals: 7 4-10 21
SHEFFIELD (56): Brendan Winslow 4 1-2 10, Shequan Wright 5 0-2 10, Dylan McNeal 3 0-0 7, Dylan Reynolds 3 0-0 7, Tyler Fitzgerald 1 0-0 2, Adam Higby 1 1-2 3, Chris Pedersen 2 0-1 4, Brandon Kipp 1 2-2 5, Jim Vile 1 0-0 2, Nic Confer 2 0-0 4, Travis Peterson 1 0-0 2, Jake Johnson 0 0-0 0, Dan Pierson 0 0-0 0, Totals 24 4-9 56
West Forest 10 2 1 8 - 21
Sheffield 20 14 13 9 - 56
3-pointers: W - Thomas 2, McFarland; S - Winslow, McNeal, Reynolds, Kipp
Junior varsity game
WEST FOREST (26): Mealy 1 0-0 2, Thomas 5 0-0 15, Bereksazi 0 0-1 0, Smail 2 1-5 5, Stubler 2 0-0 4, Totals 10 1-6 26
SHEFFIELD (48): Travis Peterson 3 1-1 7, Adam Higby 2 0-0 4, Dan Pierson 1 0-0 2, Jake Johnson 1 0-0 2, Jim Vile 2 1-5 5, Brandon Kipp 3 0-0 8, Nic Confer 8 3-6 20, Totals 20 5-12 48
West Forest 2 5 10 9 - 26
Sheffield 19 13 6 10 - 48
3-pointers: W- Thomas 5; S- Kipp 2, Confer
The Wolverines will look to keep the momentum rolling Friday when they welcome District 9 powerhouse Elk County Catholic to town for an AML North contest.
Sheffield won the junior varsity game, 48-26. Nic Confer finished with 20 points to lead all scorers and Brandon Kipp added eight points of his own in the victory.