'Dominate and be disciplined': Westover rolls past Seventy-First with double-digit victory

It was a packed-out gym at Bonanza Drive Wednesday night as the Westover Wolverines hosted the Seventy-First Falcons boys basketball team in a heavyweight matchup from objectively two of the best public school teams in Fayetteville.

Seventy-First was victorious over the Wolverines dating back to just a month ago on Dec. 21 at the Cumberland County Holiday Classic to win the Bernie Poole bracket of the tournament by a close margin.

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On Wednesday, it was a completely different story. Westover defended its home floor 70-59 with a solid showing from NJIT commit Ari Fulton who finished with 18 points, and senior wing Malachi Allen, who had 17 points of his own.

The Wolverines came into the game on a mission. Their mission was to show which team was the best, and stayed motivated from beating Trinity Christian in the MLK Dream Jam.

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"We came into this game looking to dominate, be disciplined, and play together," Ari Fulton said after the win. "As for me I wanted to impact the game in any way that I could, that's my job."

Fulton was stellar for the Wolverines in the victory, and has been tremendous in productivity all season, averaging a double-double and leading the team in points and rebounds with 20 points per game, 11 rebounds per game, and shooting 44% from the field.

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"Games like these are good when we beat solid teams by double-figures, it's always kind of been my measuring stick as a coach," coach George Stackhouse said after the game. "We got a bit sloppy down the stretch, and we'll clean that up, but games like this shows us that when we're capable of playing with the right amount of discipline and effort, we're hard to beat."

The pesky Wolverine defense held the Falcons' to just their second-lowest point total this year at 59.

In their 15 games this season, Westover has beat some of the top notable teams, three out of Fayetteville. Here are the outcomes:

• Nov. 25, New Life Christian: 58-57
• Jan. 13, Northern Nash: 81-56
• Jan. 15, Trinity Christian: 70-65
• Jan. 24, Seventy-First: 70-59

Westover advances to (14-1, 6-0 AAC), and will continue conference play and host Pine Forest on Friday, Jan. 26 at 7:30 p.m., while Seventy-First drops to (11-2, 4-0 United 8) and hosts South View to resume league play on Friday, Jan. 26 at 7:30 p.m.

Presuming both teams take their respective conferences by storm and being champions, you can almost certainly count on these two heavy-hitters to meet each other in the 3A East playoffs later this season.