OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen Westfield’s Carson Swanson (11) absorbs contact from Silver Creek’s Jake Millar (24) during Friday’s Westfield Winter Classic championship boys basketball game at Westfield Academy.

WESTFIELD — Carson Swanson comes from a family of star athletes. His brother, Darien, was the star of the Section VI champion Westfield Wolverines a year ago. His parents, Amy and Nolan, are both members of the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame as his grandfather, Mel Swanson.

On Friday night, Carson Swanson shared the floor opposing two of the best scorers in Section VI, Ray Cortes and Matt Woleben of the Silver Creek Black Knights, who Carson Swanson said after the game are “both great players.”

And still, with all of that star power surrounding him, Carson Swanson was the one that shined brightest on Friday night, pouring in 46 points to lead the Wolverines to a 64-52 victory over the Black Knights to win the Westfield Winter Classic boys basketball tournament championship.

“It was just incredible,” said Westfield head coach Nolan Swanson of his son’s performance. “It was a school record, his career high, and it’s actually a Swanson career high, even over his mom and me.”

Swanson didn’t start out on pace for a career night by any means, as only a pair of free throws from Cortes lit up the scoreboard in the first three-plus minutes of action. Swanson’s first points came with 4:08 left in the opening quarter on the first field goal of the game for either side to even the score at 2-2.

“We wanted to execute to what we know we can do,” said Carson Swanson.

With Silver Creek (5-2) ahead 6-4 with just over a minute left in the opening frame, Carson Swanson showed a glimpse of greatness with 5 points over the final minute on a pair of layups and a free throw from absorbing contact on the second of the pair. At the buzzer, Carson Swanson accounted for all 9 points in a three-point lead for the Wolverines.

But he was just getting started.

After a layup by Chris Rotunda to open the second quarter, Carson Swanson did the rest — literally. By the time the buzzer sounded for the end of the first half, Swanson had 28 of the 30 Westfield points in a 30-20 lead. Carson’s own father didn’t even realize how dominant his son was playing until he saw the stat sheet walking to the locker room at halftime.

“I know he had a great half, but I would not have guessed it was that good,” Nolan Swanson said.

But as impressive as 28 points in a half from Carson Swanson was, Silver Creek would not go quietly. The Black Knights stormed out of the gates in the second half with back-to-back 3-pointers from Cortes and Woleben to cut the Westfield lead down to four points within just 42 seconds of action. After another Woleben 3-pointer and a layup by Cortes, Silver Creek held a 31-30 lead with just under six minutes remaining in the third quarter.

“Silver Creek as a team, we know how much experience they have. … We knew it was going to be a very difficult game,” said Nolan Swanson.

But Carson Swanson just wouldn’t stop scoring. He hit a 3-pointer to put Westfield (5-3) up 35-33 with 3:45 left in the third quarter, then extended the lead to 40-35 with another 3-pointer.

Swanson closed the third quarter with a pair of free-throws after a technical foul on Silver Creek, once the emotions of the game had begun to spiral out of control after an altercation between Cortes and a Westfield player.

But still, even with tensions swirling on both sides and the game hanging in the balance, Carson Swanson was determined to not let anything distract him from his goal of raising the trophy at the end of the night.

He got to raise it, and earned Tournament Most Valuable Player honors on top of it.

“There was a trophy — we talk about trophies — and he wanted to play really bad today. He just wanted it,” Nolan Swanson said.

Carson Swanson had a pair of buckets to begin the fourth quarter to hit the 40-point mark in just 25 minutes of action. He went 6-for-8 from the free-throw line the rest of the way to punctuate his 46-point night as the Wolverines led the entire fourth quarter.

“I’m assuming this is his career night, and unfortunately he had to have it against us,” Silver Creek head coach Ralph Jackson said.

It’s not often Ray Cortes is overshadowed in any stat sheet, and he didn’t make it easy to do so on Friday night. Cortes had 28 points and 14 rebounds for the Black Knights, which earned him All-Tournament Team honors despite missing the first game of the tournament because of a family matter.

“Ray is a great player. He does well every night and you’re kind of used to it,” said Jackson. “He puts the work in. He draws a lot of attention and he still gets his share.”

Woleben, who scored 32 points for the Black Knights on Thursday in a 64-34 win over Chautauqua Lake, also earned an All-Tournament Team selection with 13 points on Friday night.

“The defensive effort, with the players Silver Creek has … was really good,” Nolan Swanson said.

Carson Swanson was happy to give fans of all four fan bases a show on a night not many will forget.

“It feels great, especially to do it in front of our home crowd,” said Carson Swanson. “All the teams (and fans) were staying, Silver Creek fans, Sherman fans, and Chautauqua Lake fans, they all stayed. It feels great to do it in front of everyone.”

The entire All-Tournament Team is as follows: Cortes; Matt Woleben; Aaron Fuller, Westfield; Brayden Hayes, Sherman; and Lawson Ormsby, Chautauqua Lake. Tournament MVP: Carson Swanson.