Westside Slides by Cagers
December 16, 2025
Coming off two wins over the weekend, the Cagers looked to try to make it three in a row verses the Eagles of Westside Christian. However, the bid to stay undefeated in this young season was cut short with a 45-42 loss on the road.
The Cagers (2-1) are notorious for starting slow early in the season. This was the case tonight as they couldn’t find their offensive rhythm, in part to the 1-3-1 defense applied by Westside. The Cagers found themselves down early and continually trying to fight back. A big 3-pointer by Peyton Casto along with two buckets by Quintin Steiner, helped keep the game relatively close at 18-9 at the end of the first period.
With only a few practices under their belt, Coach Hamsher had to scramble and try to put players in position to beat it. “We haven’t seen that defense yet, let alone practiced against it, so it threw us for a loop. Part of the Cager Code is to ‘find solutions, not excuses.’ There were times we executed the Code tonight, but we weren’t consistent enough to come out on top.”
The second quarter saw the Cagers start to figure things out a little bit. Defensively, the Cagers made a few adjustments and slowed down Westside’s Princeton. Offensively, the Cagers found the weakness in the 1-3-1 zone. The Cagers swung the ball around the horn and found a wide open QJ Anderson and he let it fly from 20 feet…SWISH! Next possession down the floor the Cagers Casto fired the ball to an open Steiner on the block who laid it off the glass for another two! Luke Kinser got in on the action by grabbing a monster rebound and put it in. The Cagers had the momentum. Another stop led to a nifty pass from Conner Henderson to Steiner who rose above the defender to put in another two. Steiner would lead the Cagers with eight points in the frame. At the end of the half, it was 25-22 in favor of Westside.
The start of the second half saw the Cagers start to own the defensive boards. With a front line of 6-2, 6-3, 6-5, the height started to take its toll on the Eagles. Not only that, but the Cagers started to run the fast break. Sophomore Logan Winans would cash in on two of those outlet passes for layups. Anderson would bury another 3-pointer followed by a Breven Bullard baseline jumper. By the end of the period the Cagers had tied the game at 34-34.
The Cagers scored the first six points of the 4th quarter taking a 40-34 lead with five minutes and some change left on the clock. That’s when the Cagers offense just died. The only remaining offense was a put back by Steiner. “We did not execute down the stretch in any facet of the game and that cost us big time. I have got to do a better job of getting us ready, making adjustments, and managing the game,” said Hamsher. Westside would score the final seven points of the game including back-to-back 3-pointers that nailed the coffin for the Cagers. The Cagers had a chance at the end to tie but could not find paydirt as a last second 3-pointer by Winans missed the mark. For the game, Steiner led the Cagers with 16. Winans had 9 followed by Anderson with 6. Kinser added 5 points and Casto rounded out the scoring column with 3.
