With a multitude of the best former players and coaches from Niles West’s 50 years of Boys Basketball in attendance, sophomore Ahmad Gibson drained the game winning three from the corner with under a minute to go in Saturday night’s game against Highland Park, and in doing so made a name for himself.
The Wolves played their hearts out against the Giants, and eventually came away with the 36-33 win, their second in two weekend games, on the night deemed to celebrate 50 years of Boys Basketball at West.
Varsity Head Coach Bob Williams thought that the game was a great experience for their players.
“We had over 100 former players back and I thought that it was a great opportunity for our team to realize that they’re a part of something bigger than this season,” said Williams.
West played well early, fought through a ferocious trap defense thrown at them by the Giants, and led 7-2 at the end of the first quarter. Their success continued in the second as junior Joey Younan hit two threes and helped open the game up for the Wolves, who lead 21-8 at the half.
A longer halftime brought more fun and festivities than normally present at a home basketball game. The pommers preformed, past players and coaches were honored, and an anniversary team was announced by Niles West’s first basketball coach all before the second half started.
The extended halftime seemed to affect the Wolves early in the third, as the let the Giants score the first 12 points of the half, and climb within one. The Wolves then had a run to start the fourth that included five straight points from junior David McCoy.
Williams added that he thought the team played well and that they’ve been working on their consistency.
“We’ve been working on consistency all season, and I’m very happy that the team stayed motivated and ended up beating a very good team”.
The teams traded points back and forth before the Giants came back to tie the game with a minute left. Gibson then took, and made the corner three that won the Wolves the game, and the rest was history.
West received key contributions from senior center/forward Alek Biser who finished the game with six points, as well as juniors McCoy and Younan who had eight and 13 respectively, and Gibson who scored the final five points of the game, which also happened to be his only points.
With the best basketball players West has ever had in attendance last Saturday night, Gibson shined the brightest in crunch time and showed that he may one day belong with them, and that in his final two years there’s more history to come.
