That problem?

Darien Swanson.

Swanson scored 26 points, picked up six steals, dished out five assists, grabbed four rebounds and blocked three shots as Westfield dispatched rival Chautauqua Lake 61-37 to stay perfect in Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 2 West action Tuesday.

“He’s the rock to our team for sure, especially offensively,” said Westfield head coach Nolan Swanson about Darien’s importance to the team. “As a point guard he just knows how our offenses work, he knows where people are going to be. He’s more than willing to give up the ball when he’s got the double-team, that’s why his assist numbers are up.”

OBSERVER Photo by Christian Storms Westfield’s Carson Swanson goes in for a layup during Tuesday’s CCAA Division 2 West game against Chautauqua Lake in Westfield.

The Wolverines offense goes through Darien, whether he is driving to the basket himself, pulling up for a shot himself or dishing a dime to a teammate. Without the ball in his hands he still directs traffic and on defense he doesn’t make it easy for anyone he’s assigned to.

While the end result shows a lopsided score, the Thunderbirds (4-8, 2-4) had the Wolverines’ number in the first quarter. Everything Westfield did, Chautauqua Lake was able to match it. Westfield got a steal and score, Chautauqua Lake would get a steal and score; Westfield hit a 3-point shot, then Chautauqua Lake would hit a 3-point shot. When the first quarter was all said and done the Thunderbirds held an 11-10 lead.

That lead would not last for long as adjustments were soon made by the Wolverines. At the start of the second quarter, Westfield began a full-court press and the Thunderbirds offense did not take well to it.

“We want the speed of the game to be a little quicker than some teams in our league,” said Coach Swanson. “So we’re trying to push the ball at them, keep the tempo faster and we’re trying to get people to wear down a bit. It doesn’t always happen in the second quarter, but defensively we still turned them over a few times.”

At the forefront of the press was Cole Holland and Carson Swanson. The two speedsters made it a nightmare for anyone with the ball in their hands as they swarmed them, giving them no room to move up court or move the ball. If Holland or Swanson didn’t get the steal themselves a teammate either came in to snatch the ball or an errant pass was sent leading to a turnover.

“We wouldn’t be the same team without Cole,” Coach Swanson added when talking about Holland’s defensive presence. “We wouldn’t be able to limit team’s scoring without Cole. He’s a lockdown defender, you don’t get that all the time in Class D basketball. He’s got a low center of gravity, he’s very strong and very fast.”

While the press didn’t result in a major uptick in scoring for Westfield, it did limit Chautauqua Lake to just 3 points in the quarter. At halftime the Wolverines led 22-14.

“Fourteen points in the first half is not going to get the job done against Westfield,” said Chautauqua Lake head coach Alex Reyda.

The shots didn’t start to fall for the Wolverines until the third quarter as they rained in 25 points from its big three of the Swanson brothers and Holland. Carson would finish the game with 16 points, five rebounds and two steals and Holland with 9 points, four steals and four rebounds.

Chautauqua Lake’s scoring did pick up in the second half with leading scorers Carson D’Anthony and Lawson Ormsby finding most of their 11 points in the half. The scoring would not be enough as the Thunderbirds were outscored 25-13 in the third and 14-10 in the fourth as Westfield won 61-37.

“Once we got Ormsby back in the second half we just flowed a little bit better on offense,” Reyda said about the offenses second-half improvements. “We can get it into the high post, we can look to the low post and we can kick out.”

Wyatt Schuster grabbed 13 rebounds and Ethan Weingart snagged seven, helping the Wolverines extend possessions. Chautauqua Lake’s effort on the glass was led by Jalen Parkhurst with eight rebounds and Ormsby with seven.

CHAUTAUQUA LAKE (37)

Testa 0 0 0, D’Anthony 4 0 11, Cole 0 0 0, Miller 2 0 4, Flurie 0 0 0, Tarr 0 0 0, Meadows 1 0 2, Szumigala 0 0 0, Ormsby 4 3 11, Parkhurst 3 2 9. Totals 14 5 37.

WESTFIELD (61)

Team 1 0 2, Weingart 2 0 4, Barresi 0 0 0, Tuah 0 0 0, Holland 3 2 9, DSwanson 8 8 26, CSwanson 7 0 16, Hernandez 0 0 0, Emery 0 0 0, Whitesell 0 0 0, Rotunda 0 0 0, Larson 0 0 0, Schuster 2 0 4, Rotunda 0 0 0. Totals 23 10 61.

3-point goals–D’Anthony 3, DSwanson 2, CSwanson 2, Holland, Parkhurst.

Chautauqua Lake 11 3 13 10 — 37

Westfield 10 12 25 14 — 61