Britt becomes Woodland Hills’ all-time leading scorer in win over Latrobe

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, January 20, 2018 | 9:34 AM

Getting stops was never going to be enough for the Latrobe boys basketball team. Woodland Hills guard Armani Obringer had his breakaway dunk attempt turned away by a hustling Wildcats defender with 1 minute, 41 seconds left in the third quarter.

This missed shot — like many others — followed a familiar pattern during the host Wolverines' 80-69 Section 3-6A win Friday night.

Heat-seeking or wayward arching, Woodland Hills didn't discriminate. Nearly all missed shots became their property.

After Obringer had his dunk attempt blocked, Olson Nicholson tracked it down in the lane before flushing it in himself. No. 5 Woodland Hills finished with a 46-40 advantage on the boards.

“It was very frustrating,” Latrobe coach Brad Wetzel said. “I mean, it seems like there was a possession where they shot the ball five times. In the second quarter, I bet there were more times they got multiple shots than when they got one shot. You can't win games like that. Not against good teams like this.”

The Wolverines (13-2, 7-1) built a 34-27 halftime lead despite top scorer Amante Britt, who finished with 22 points, being held to five before the break. Britt raised his career total to 1,244 points, surpassing Woodland Hills assistant coach Michael Keyes for the school's all-time mark.

“He's a team player,” Woodland Hills coach Odell Miller said of Britt. “He does whatever it takes to win. Of course, he wants to score. We moved him to the two spot after he played point guard for the past three years. The main thing is to win, and that's what he tries to do.”

Latrobe (10-5, 5-3) led 7-3 after two minutes and 19-16 after the first quarter. The Wildcats had four players — Bryce Butler (21), Reed Fenton (20), Jason Armstrong (13) and Marcus Dudzenski (12) — score in double figures.

In the second quarter, everything crumbled. The Wildcats shot 2 of 13 from the field, and Woodland Hills finished with a 26-14 rebounding edge in the first half.

The Wolverines went ahead for good 24-23 on a layup by Khalil Wilson with 6:01 left in the second.

“Once you give a team like that an edge, there's blood in the water now,” Wetzel said.

Keandre Bowles tortured Latrobe in the second half, scoring eight of his 20 points. Nicholson added 19 points for the Wolverines.

Woodland Hills protected the lead with strong defense. They closed the win by continuing to chase down loose balls.

Forcing the Wolverines to take bad shots wasn't going to get it done. Latrobe couldn't stop Woodland Hills from earning extra opportunities.

“I really didn't get a chance to reflect on the second half,” Miller said. “When we went into halftime, man, it was brought to my attention we hit the boards hard today. Against Latrobe, that's a feat.”

Josh Rizzo is a freelance writer.

Tags: Latrobe, Woodland Hills