OBSERVER Staff Report

WESTFIELD — The Westfield Wolverines had a balanced scoring night from the team’s five key seniors on Tuesday night on the way to a 71-63 victory over the Chautauqua Lake Thunderbirds in a non-league boys basketball game at Westfield Academy.

Westfield (2-0) was led in scoring by Ryan Jafarjian and Mike Johnson, each with 16 points. Andrew Baribeau had 15 points and a team-high nine rebounds, while Nate Culbreth had 12 points and Dylan Scriven had 10 points. Jafarjian and Johnson each had seven rebounds, while Jafarjian had four steals and Johnson had three steals and three assists.

The star on the night for Chautauqua Lake (0-1) was Luke Waters, who tallied a game-high 26 points, including six 3-pointers. Raiden Stalter added 12 points for the Thunderbirds.

Waters scored 11 points in the third quarter, in which the Thunderbirds outscored the Wolverines 24-20. Chautauqua Lake also outscored Westfield in the second quarter 13-11. Westfield bookended the scoring frames with an 18-12 advantage in the opening period and a 22-14 advantage in the fourth quarter.

Both teams now look forward to Westfield’s annual tournament, the Westfield Winter Classic, which begins on Friday night. The Wolverines will play Silver Creek after the opening game between Chautauqua Lake and Sherman, which begins at 6:30 p.m. on Friday night. Friday’s winners will meet Saturday night after the consolation game of Friday’s losers on Saturday.