OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen Sherman’s Brayden Hayes (23) jumps to block a shot by Chautauqua Lake’s Alex Brown (12) during Friday’s Westfield Winter Classic boys basketball game at Westfield Academy.

WESTFIELD — In a tight contest that remained within 10 points the entire night, the Sherman Wildcats managed one more run than the Chautauqua Lake Thunderbirds did.

Sherman defeated Chautauqua Lake 42-36 on Friday night to take third place at the Westfield Winter Classic boys basketball tournament at Westfield Academy.

“Basketball is a game of runs and we happened to have the last one,” said Sherman head coach Cory Emory.

Sherman (5-3) began the game on a 10-2 run over the first four minutes of action. Chautauqua Lake (2-5) answered with a pair of layups by Lawson Ormsby to cut the deficit to four points, 10-6, but the Wildcats extended the lead to 15-9 by the end of the opening quarter.

After a pair of 3-pointers in the second quarter extended Sherman’s lead to 21-11, the Thunderbirds responded with their best stretch of play in the tournament. A reverse layup by Nick Jacobson with 5 seconds left in the first half tied the score at 21-all to punctuate a 10-0 run by the Thunderbirds to end the first half.

“We just settled in a little bit,” said Chautauqua Lake head coach Alex Reyda.

After the two teams traded 3-pointers to open the second half, the Thunderbirds grabbed the lead with buckets on back-to-back by Ormsby and Jacobson for a 28-24 advantage with 5:22 left in the third quarter. The Wildcats responded, however, with the next seven points, including a go-ahead 3-pointer by Jacob Swabik for a 31-28 lead with 3:54 remaining in the third quarter. Chautauqua Lake regained the lead in the final minute of the period on a pair of Ormsby free-throws to take a 32-31 advantage to the final frame.

In the fourth quarter, however, it was all Sherman.

Deadlocked at 34-all, Swabik hit a go-ahead 3-pointer put Sherman ahead for good.

Kegan Ayers followed with a 3-pointer of his own to extend the Sherman lead to 40-34 with 4:08 left in the game. The back-to-back 3-pointers to claim and extend the lead punctuated a 9-2 Sherman run over the first four minutes of the fourth quarter. The Wildcats held on over the final four minutes to win 42-36.

“We were looking for a certain pass, which we hit all game, but we couldn’t cash in on the 3. We just got fortunate right at the beginning of the fourth quarter we had that little run where we hit those two 3s,” said Emory.

Ayers led Sherman with 15 points in the win, while Swabik added 12 points, and Brayden Hayes had 8 points. Hayes had 14 points in a loss to Westfield on Thursday and earned All-Tournament Team honors.

“We kept our composure tonight. We played hard defense. My guys have trouble scoring the ball, but we do play hard on the defensive end,” said Emory.

Ormsby, who had 19 points in the loss to Silver Creek on Thursday, led Chautauqua Lake for the second straight game with 18 points to earn an All-Tournament Team selection.

“Ormsby had a pretty good game,” said Reyda. “He settled down tonight.”

Alex Brown had 7 points on Friday, while Logan Tarr and Nick Jacobson each had 5 points.

“We’re obviously not happy with a loss, but we’re happy to see the improvement over last night,” Reyda said, coming off a 30-point loss the night prior against Silver Creek.