Boys hoops: Perry stymies Westview with defense

December 14, 2018 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


Westview's D'Maurian Williams (ball) gets set to take on Perry's Jalen Williams on Friday in Perry's 60-25 victory. (AzPreps365 photo).

The offensive potential of Friday evening's Westview-Perry boys hoops matchup was enticing. The thing is, it didn't materialize.

With the likes of Perry's Jalen Williams and Westview's D'Maurian Williams in the house, turned out defense won the night and the reason Perry came away with a 60-25 victory over Westview in a 6A non-region game at Perry High.

The teams met a the first week of the season in the Welcome to the Jungle Invite and Westview came away a 52-50 victor. D'Maurian Williams ripped the nets for 34 points in that one. In the rematch he was limited to a season-low nine points on 4 of 18 shooting and non threes. D'Maurian Williams made four threes the first time and made 13 of 24 attempts overall. 

Six-foot-3 Jalen Williams, who has a reach that makes 6-3 look more like 6-7, drew the assignment on D'Maurian. Jalen Williams was playing his second game back after missing a couple with an ankle sprain.

"Jalen wanted that challenge," Perry coach Sammy Duane Jr. said. "He was really focusedon defense. His length and the lenght of others in our lineup caused problems. We also did a good job of rotating to help on D'Maurian."

Jalen Williams did manage to tally a game-high 20 points, but picked up a cluster of those points late in the third period when he sank 6 of 6 free throws in a matter of seconds. Four were technical fouls FTs. Jalen Williams was 3 of 9 in the first half and 6 of 15 for the game.

Perry (8-4 overall, 6-2 power-ranking gams) led 11-9 after the first period and the defense really stood out in the second period with the Pumas outscoring Westview 14-3 to open up a double-digit edge at half.

Westview (6-5 overall, 4-3 power-ranking games) managed to stay withint 28-16 almost midway through the third period, but Perry went on an 11-2 run to end the quarter. Perry engaged a running clock with 6:45 left after Jalen Williams steal and dunk.

Duane Jr. also had praise for other contributors on his squad. Senior Andrew Morrill made all his shots in the first half for a game-leading 10 points at the break. Freshman center Dylan Anderson managed 11 points around some foul trouble. And 6-9 sophomore Carter Vanhammond was tough on the boards and helping the likes of Williams and Anderson changing shots on the defensive end.