Southern Section Boys’ Basketball Playoffs : Westlake Plagued by Turnovers in 71-54 Loss

The first three times Westlake High touched the ball Friday night, the Warriors turned it over. It set the stage for the way things would go for Westlake.

A smaller but quicker Santa Barbara team forced Westlake into 23 turnovers and forward Paul Johnson scored 31 points to lead the Dons to a 71-54 victory in a 4-A Division game at Santa Barbara.

Westlake committed 14 turnovers in the first half and Johnson turned in an impressive 21-point performance to give Santa Barbara (20-5) a 41-26 halftime lead.

“We averaged nine turnovers a game all year,” Westlake Coach Greg Hess said. “The quickness of their guards kept them in our face and we made a lot of turnovers. You’ve got to have vision to play the game and we didn’t.”

Westlake (15-10), which finished in second place in the Marmonte League, came out quickly in the third quarter and scored the first nine points to cut the Dons’ lead to 41-35. But the Warriors could get no closer.

Westlake forward Kevin Logan and guard Bob Grandpre paced the Warriors with 14 points each. Logan also grabbed 10 rebounds and forward Bill Fassl added 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Forward Bill Doering scored 20 points for Santa Barbara, which committed only eight turnovers. Westlake outrebounded Santa Barbara, 31-21.