The Whitewater Wildcats put quite a scare into the top-ranked Westlake Lions on Tuesday, hanging around long enough to possibly pull off an upset.

But the Lions pulled away late in the third quarter en route to defeating Whitewater 77-55 in the first round of the Region 2-AAAA tournament at Fayette County High School.

The loss ended Whitewater’s season. Whitewater finished the season with an overall record of 6-21.

Whitewater came out as the aggressor, building an 11-2 lead midway through the first quarter with the help of three 3-point plays: a layup and, following a foul, a free throw by Jabar Olusesi; and back-to-back 3-point bombs by Renaldo Jenkins and Jamal Washington.

Westlake looked lethargic in the first quarter, especially at the offensive end of the floor, where it missed numerous layups. But by the conclusion of the quarter, the Lions began to play significantly better, cutting the gap to four (15-11).

A technical foul on Whitewater’s Willie Reese for a uniform violation sent Westlake’s Raymond Willis to the free throw line to begin the second quarter, and he sank both resulting free throws.

A layup by Westlake’s Anthony Brown within the opening minute of the quarter tied the game at 15.

Less than a minute later, Willis scored on a coast-to-coast drive that handed the Lions their first lead of the game (17-15).

Whitewater came back and tied the game over the next minute, but Westlake went on to outscore Whitewater 14-7 the rest of the quarter to grab a 33-26 lead at halftime.

The Wildcats’ upset hopes faded in the third quarter, in which they were outscored 16-8.

Whitewater went on an 8-0 run early in the the quarter that cut Westlake’s lead to four and included a free throw by Olusesi, a layup by Justin Smith, a jumper by Kody Hastings and a layup by Jeremy Gunter.

But that’s as close as Whitewater, which didn’t score again in the quarter, would get. Westlake closed the quarter with an 8-0 run of its own, and Whitewater never recovered, falling behind by double digits the rest of the way.

Willis led all scorers with 27 points. Brown scored 11 and Marcus Thornton and Khamori Watts each added eight for Westlake.

Olusesi scored a team-high 11 points, Gunter had eight and Washington and Hastings each added seven for Whitewater.

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