The Westerville South boys basketball team won the first four games of tournament play to advance to the semi-finals and play against Gahanna Lincoln. The Cats’ lost the game meaning their season officially ended. 

Before that game, on Saturday, Mar. 5, the Cats’ played against Dublin Jerome and won with a final score of 71-64. The game went into double overtime and Mohamed Mohamoud, a senior, said, “All season long we have taken pride in both our conditioning and mental toughness late in the game; so when it’s close, I think we all believe that we are going to push through and get the win.” 

Drey Carter, a senior, led the game with 26 points, and Isaiah Johnson, also a senior, had 17 points. 

With the Cats’ being 25-0 after that game, Jalen Wheeler, a junior, said, “It feels good, we’ve worked really really hard to get where we’re at and accomplish what we have so far.”

After the game against Dublin Jerome, the team was preparing to play against Gahanna Lincoln on Mar.9. Wheeler said, “we are focused on getting better each day, playing with that chip on our shoulder, and getting mentally and physically ready to play a good team.”

Gahanna Lincoln is number 3 in the state and second in Ohio Division 1, while South is number 6 in the state and 5th in Ohio Division 1.

Lincoln won the tip-off and scored first. At the end of the first quarter, the score was 15-20. During the second quarter, both teams scored a low amount of points and it was 23-30. The Cats’ fell short with a final score of 64-48.

Gahanna Lincoln was 24-2 coming into the game and South was 25-0. Lincoln lost to Pickerington North (58-53) and St. Vincent St. Mary (70-69). 

Before the last game, Mohamoud said “We are staying focused and pushing each other to get better and doing what we do best, and just playing our game.” 

 With the season ending, Carter was the leading scorer of the season with 18.3 points. Reign Winston, a senior, and Johnson were second and third highest with 11.3 points and 10.3 points. 

The Cats’ season is over and now they are getting prepared for next season.