Willow Glen Resident

Sports

Weimer leads Westmont to tourney title

By Kevin Sparrer

There is no greater feeling than winning your own tournament, except maybe scoring 29 points and pulling down 12 rebounds in the championship game of your own tournament.

Senior Michael Weimer did just that, playing a dominant role for Westmont in the final game of the 40th annual Westmont Invitational Basketball Tournament Fremont.

Weimer's 29 points included four three-pointers and seven points from the free-throw line, and his total accounted for nearly half of his team's offense and almost more than Fremont scored as a team in the 65-36 loss to Westmont on Dec. 1.

Not only that, but Weimer had 12 of the 18 points in the first quarter and then 12 of the 14 points scored for the Warriors in the second quarter.

By beating Fremont in the finals, Westmont posted its fourth championship in its own tournament. The first three times were in 1978, 1990 and 1995.

With the championship, Westmont earned four spots on the all-tournament team. Winning all-tourney honors for the Warriors were Weimer, Darrien Broadnax, Max Schneider and Spencer Smith. Joining them on the tourney dream team were Jeremy Allen and Sam Kesten of Fremont, Bo Nielsen and Steven Walker of Saratoga and Steven Skavdahl and Kyle Schroeder of Willow Glen.

The Firebirds had a small edge that lasted only a few minutes into the game before the dominant Westmont offense of Weimer and Smith ran away with the lead. Smith was also a big contributor to the Warrior win, scoring 15 points with 12 points coming from outside the three-point line and one coming on a free throw.

To reach the final round of the tournament, Westmont downed Prospect 56-40 with M. Weimer again leading the attack with 29 points.

In the first game of the tournament, Westmont defeated Leland 66-30 with Broadnax leading the attack. Broadnax hit five from outside the arc, two from the line and totaled 23 points in the win.

Fremont had a more successful first two rounds of the tournament. In the second round, the Firebirds defeated Saratoga 56-46 and they opened with a 54-42 win over Willow Glen.

For the Rams, Schroeder scored 17 with nine coming outside the arc and two at the line. Skavdahl had 14 with two threes, seniors Billy Hahn and Anthony Rodriquez each hit a three and senior Dan O'Shaughnessy had two.

Willow Glen fought back in the tournament after the first-round loss to Fremont to win the consolation bracket by defeating Leland in the last game 50-49.

Schroeder was in normal form, putting up 16 with a three and three from the line. Hahn had eight, Skavdahl had seven with a three and two at the line, and senior Brian Chunn had seven with three from the line. Rodriquez had six with two free throws, freshman Jimmy Renneke had four and O'Shaughnessy had two from the line.

The Rams' first win came over Piedmont Hills 49-44 in overtime. Skavdahl scored 17 with three threes and six free throws while Renneke had 16. Senior Evan Bishop added five with a three, Schroeder had four, Hahn and Rodriquez each had a three and Chunn had one free throw.

The Rams were to face Leigh in the first round of the Los Gatos Wildcat Shootout on Dec. 5 at 5:30 p.m.