For the fourth straight year, the Westfield Wolverines claimed the championship trophy of the Westfield Winter Classic. The Wolverines defeated the Falconer Golden Falcons 63-28 on Friday night at Westfield Academy.

But it wasn’t the cheers of the deciding buckets that stood out the most for Westfield.

The victory had plenty of highlights, as the Wolverines dominated the game from the very beginning and never let up. Westfield (8-1) scored 13 of the first 15 points of the game over the first five minutes of action, including a pair of 3-pointers from Chris Vacanti. At the end of the first quarter, the Wolverines led by double digits, 16-6.

“It makes us feel really good. We want to take the shooting that we had tonight and bring it to our next game,” Carson Swanson said. “It was really nice to knock down some shots tonight.”

Westfield’s Ryan Wood, front, hoists the Westfield Winter Classic championship trophy as teammate Chris Vacanti, back, celebrates after Westfield’s 63-28 victory over Falconer on Friday. OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen

Once the second quarter began, in the blink of an eye, the Wolverines pulled away even more. Carson Swanson punctuated a 9-0 run in less than two minutes to start the period with a 3-pointer well beyond the arc, which prompted a Falconer (5-2) timeout.

“It was a much better shooting night tonight,” Westfield head coach Nolan Swanson said. “That makes the game that much more stress-free.”

But a 9-0 run and a 19-point lead wasn’t enough for the Wolverines, and especially not Carson Swanson. He delivered a punctuation mark coming out of the timeout with a breakaway slam dunk to put the Wolverines up by 21.

After missing a dunk on a fast break on Thursday, Carson Swanson did not hesitate to give it another shot on Friday. This time, he shouted in celebration after he threw it down.

“It felt good to do it in front of our home crowd,” Carson Swanson said. He joked that after missing a dunk the night prior that he was “just happy it went down.”

The Wolverines celebrate with the Westfield Winter Classic trophy. OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen

Westfield led by 20 points or more the rest of the game. Because of that, every available player on the team got in the game to log substantial playing time. With the less experienced players getting their chance to shine, the Wolverines posted a full scorebook with every name in it contributing to the final score.

The cheers from the home crowd were louder than ever as Westfield put up 10 points in the fourth quarter. Among those 10 points were a layup from Jackson Stellhorn, a 3-pointer from Matt Schuster, and a corner 3-pointer in front of his own bench by Ryan Wood, which sent the crowd into a frenzy. The cheers were only rivaled by those of his teammates as Wood hoisted the Winter Classic trophy after the game finished.

“Obviously the crowd loves that,” Nolan Swanson said. “The kids are all friends with these boys. With a big crowd, you like seeing those guys knock down a bucket.”

Carson Swanson led the Wolverines with 17 points in the victory, along with eight assists, five steals, and five rebounds. He earned All-Tournament Most Valuable Player honors for his team-leading performance in each of the two Westfield wins.

Aaron Fuller had nine points and 10 rebounds on Friday, while Zach Maguire had 10 points, seven rebounds and three steals. Each player was selected to the All-Tournament Team.

Maximus Parmentier led Falconer with 12 points. The Golden Falcons were without their top two scorers on the season, Roger Markham and Mathis Baehr.

“We’re starting to understand how to run the zone a bit better,” Nolan Swanson said of his team’s defense.

Playing team defense has been a Westfield staple for years, but scoring as a team was on display better than ever on Friday. The team got 21 points combined from Mikail Lawrence, Mason Whitesell, Matt Schuster, Jackson Stellhorn and Ryan Wood in the win.

“It was great. Some of the guys haven’t gotten much time this year,” Carson Swanson said. “For everyone to score in this game, it was really fun to see that happen.”

FALCONER (28)

Fuller 0 0 0, Sharpe 1 0 3, Swanson 0 0 0, Brainard 0 2 2, Bailey 1 0 3, Markham 1 1 3, Binkley 1 1 3, Parmentier 6 0 12, Jones 1 0 2. Totals 11 4 28.

WESTFIELD (63)

Lawrence 2 2 6, Whitesell 2 0 4, Maguire 3 2 10, Swanson 4 8 17, Vacanti 2 0 6, Stellhorn 1 0 2, Schuster 2 0 6, Wood 1 0 3, Fuller 3 3 9. Totals 20 15 63.

3-point goals–Sharpe, Bailey, Maguire 2, Swanson, Vacanti 2, Schuster 2, Wood.

Falconer 6 3 7 12 — 28

Westfield 16 22 15 10 — 63