SINCLAIRVILLE – Despite a low scoring, tight first quarter, and a half time lead lower than they’re used to, the Westfield Wolverines used an explosive third quarter to blow by the Cassadaga Valley Cougars 75-26 on Thursday night.

The Wolverines, despite just a 27-15 lead at the half, exploded for 31 points in the third quarter, all while holding the Cougars to seven points, running away with the game from that point on. Westfield coach Bob North said the change came on the defensive end.

“Our defense picked up a little bit, we didn’t monkey around with any zone,” North said. “We played man to man the whole third quarter, and we had a solid third quarter. I told my guys that they haven’t changed their defense, we need to just run to our spots for our offense, then we did a better job.”

The first basket of the game wasn’t recorded until over three minutes were gone in the first quarter, when Westfield big man Andrew Baribeau buried a layup to give the Wolverines a 2-0 lead. The Cougars would answer quickly, as the teams traded sparing baskets for the remainder of the quarter, as the first quarter ended with Westfield leading, 9-7.

The second quarter went a little smoother for the Wolverines, though still not up to their normal standards. Seniors Michael Johnson and Ryan Jafarjian carried them through the second, combining for 12 of the 18 points in the quarter.

Though it improved from the first quarter to the second, the Westfield offense, normally a well-oiled machine, struggled to find consistency, with Baribeau scoring four of the team’s nine points. Coach North said his team has been prone to these kind of starts.

“We came out a little flat, that first quarter was one of our worst quarters,” North said. “We’ve done this a few times in games, we come out and take the first shot. It’s one pass, shoot a three, one pass, shoot a three. I’ve got multiple guys that can get to the basket, I have a big guy inside. When we’re making threes, we look good, but when we don’t, you saw what happened in the first quarter.”

Baribeau was the leading scorer on the day from either side, as the Cougars could do little to stop his inside presence. The big man scored 24 points, while pulling in 12 rebounds and going 11/21 from the field.

The Wolverines (12-0) have gotten through a particularly tough point in their schedule, recently facing Sherman and Panama, but the break from top competition isn’t very long. Westfield travels to Frewsburg on Monday, Jan. 27, and North knows the Bears are a team that can give his squad some issues.

“That’s a tough game, Frewsburg played a lot of man to man against us last time, and they did a nice job of taking Nathan (Culbreth) away from us,” North said. “They have a real nice player in Brad Nelson, so we’ll work on finding him and executing better on offense. It’s important going on the road to not dig ourselves a hole like we did tonight. We never fell behind, but we easily could have.”

Outside of Baribeau’s 24 points, while Ryan Jafarjian had 12 points and nine boards, Michael Johnson had 15 points, and Darien Swanson added eight assists.

Cassadaga Valley (2-12) was led by Noah Ricner had 10, while Drake Pierce had seven points. The Cougars are next in action against the Panama Panthers on Monday, Jan. 27 at 7:30 p.m. in Panama.