A letdown almost seemed expected, considering the circumstances.

Westlake (6-1), which climbed to a No. 4 state ranking after a stirring second-place performance over the weekend at the Texas Invitational in Pasadena, dropped down in competition against a middle-of-the-road Cedar Park squad Tuesday at Westlake High School. In addition, Westlake faced the Timberwolves (2-1) without high-scoring forward Connor Kemper, who stretched a muscle in Saturday’s loss to Houston Bellaire in the Texas Invitational finals.

But the situation couldn’t slow Cody Doolin, who scored 28 points to help the Chaps rally from a sluggish beginning for a 72-40 nondistrict win.

“We were a little worried that we’d have a slow start,” Chap forward Carl Meyertons said. “We knew we had to pick it up, and we did. We were fine.”

That start included just two points through the first four minutes of the game. Cedar Park, a tall and physical squad that could surprise some District 16-5A heavyweights, even took a 6-5 lead with 3:27 left in the first period.

But then Doolin stopped trying to set up his teammates and started taking over the game. The senior point guard drained back-to-back three-pointers in a span of 20 seconds and sandwiched an assist to Jason Powell around a three-point play by Meyertons.

Just like that, the Timberwolves faced a 16-6 deficit.

“There wasn’t really one specific spark that got us going, but I do know that Cody really took over for a few minutes and picked up his scoring, and that made it easier for everybody,” Westlake coach Tres Ellis said. “That’s what we needed at that point.”

Westlake put the game away midway through the second period with an 11-2 run highlighted by consecutive blocks by Gus Leeper and a transition three from Doolin, who had 20 points before the halftime break.

That lead stretched to 41-18 at halftime and 64-33 by the end of the third period as Westlake dominated at both ends of the court. The Chaps shot 27-of-53 from the field and held Cedar Park to 20.4-percent shooting.

That performance proved particularly impressive considering the absence of the 6-6 Kemper. Powell started in his spot and tallied five points and six rebounds, and Meyertons scored all eight of his points in the paint.

“We knew that we had to pick it up without Connor,” Meyertons said. “We weren’t worried; we have a lot of depth.”

Guard Keaton Lancashire added 11 points for the Chaps, and Leeper had seven blocks and eight rebounds. Jeremy Cox had eight points and four rebounds off the bench.

“i was concerned with Connor out, but one of our strengths is our depth,” Ellis said. “We can go to a lot of guys, and tonight was one of those times where we had to lean on them right away. Jeremy and Jason really stepped up.”

Dylan Cox led the Timberwolves with nine points.