Will Morse is both a talented and driven basketball player, and the reasons for his dedication and hard work can be found under two familiar rooftops – his home and the Westlake gymnasium.
Morse’s father played college basketball, so it’s no surprise that he picked up the game at the early age of 4. The influences have extended from his home to those in the Westlake basketball program.
“My dad is a really big influence on me because he was the one who got me started,” Morse said. “But my coaches have also had a big impact.”
During middle school, Morse played both basketball and football, but he was focused on basketball going into high school. He wanted to be sure he would perform to his full potential during those next four years.
He was moved up to junior varsity as a freshman and led the team in scoring that season.
He was moved up again the following year, this time to varsity, where he has been for the last two seasons.
“Will has developed quite a bit the past three years,” said Westlake basketball coach Tres Ellis. “We have pushed him each year by putting him on JV as a freshman and then into the starting line up on varsity as a sophomore. This is the first year that he has played where he is not considered young.”
Morse finds ways to make sure his training stays consistent outside of the high school season. Not only does he play high school basketball, but he also plays on the Texas Ambassadors club team coached by his father. The team travels around the country playing in tournaments, and last summer the team traveled to Las Vegas.
“It’s a good way for me to stay in shape during the offseason and still generate interest from schools,” Morse said. “I get to play basketball with my friends and my dad coaches. It’s great.”
As a point guard, Morse handles the ball a lot and is adept at setting up plays where either he or another teammate can score. Ellis is impressed with his ability to direct as well as score.
“Sometimes point guards do not have the ability to score the way Will does,” Ellis said. “He has a good balance of both, which is not always the case for a point guard.”
In his time at Westlake, Morse has suffered some injuries. He has been battling a knee injury for the last two years, along with a dislocated shoulder that came late this season, but it has had little to no effect on his performance at games.
Morse was elected team captain his sophomore and junior years thanks to his leadership shown on and off the court, both at practice and games. Ellis hopes Morse will take those characteristics with the Chaps into his senior year.
“He is very smart on the floor, so he has learned how to see weakness in the other team and attack it by getting the ball to the right place,” Ellis said. “He has also really developed a confidence on the floor because of that experience.”
Morse, along with the rest of his Chap teammates, is ready for playoffs.
“We have been practicing really well lately and playing some of our best basketball,” Morse said. “I really think we could go deep in playoffs this year if we keep it up.”
The boys came close to continuing their season despite an off-night, yet ultimately the Chaps season came to an end with a bidistrict playoff loss to Georgetown.

Starting the final period the Chaps had two chances to score and take the lead but missed, and the Eagles scored quickly the other way to take a three-point lead.

The Chaparrals chances fell away after that in a 52-46 loss at Concordia University, putting an end to Westlake’s season.

“That possession was pretty indicative of the whole game,” coach Tres Ellis said. “We came down, got a good shot at the rim from a player that makes that most of the time and they went down and got a layup … One point to down three points, it deflated us a little bit and kept them thinking they had to work twice as hard and force things a little bit.”

Georgetown gained an early advantage on the boards, coupled with turnovers and missed shots the Eagles took an eight-point halftime lead.

“The turnovers and their offensive rebounds really killed us in the first half,” senior Drew Wikelius said. “It was the last game of the season, potentially, and we came in just wanting to keep playing. We had it in our hands, and we just had to keep playing hard.”

It was staggering for the Chaps to see rebound after rebound find its way to the Eagles after Westlake was a strong rebounding team throughout the regular season. On top of that, Westlake was barely better than 50 percent at the foul line after knocking down about 70 percent during the season.

“I felt real good going in, all of a sudden all those little things we’ve been doing all year weren’t going our way,” Ellis said. “It was a combination of a lot of things not getting accomplished, a lot of the things we’ve been doing all year. And we still had a chance the whole time …  My biggest disappointment, frustration, was not rebounding and that’s been a strength all year. I feel bad for the kids, too, that we weren’t doing something. I just don’t know what it was to be honest.”

Westlake showed what got it to this point with a display on both ends in the third quarter. Trailing 37-28, Jordan Severt had a strong move inside and RJ Rowan nailed a 3-pointer and the Chaps closed the lead with an 8-0 run, capped by a Chase Carlton layup to head to the fourth quarter trailing just 37-36.

The Eagles then missed their opening shot of the fourth quarter, but the Chaps missed on the other end as well to set up an easy Georgetown layup, and three minutes later the lead was up to eight again.

Even as Georgetown made shots, Westlake had numerous chances to stay in the game or make a push for the lead but woeful free throw shooting kept the Chaps at bay. Westlake went 13-for-21 at the line, and a flurry of 1-of-2’s in the  third and fourth quarters stemmed any chance the Chaps had for some sustained momentum.

“We held them to our defensive goal but when we’re giving them so many shots it tended to put more pressure on us to get baskets,” Ellis said. “We fell into some old habits maybe, weren’t moving the ball as well as we do when we’re playing real well. We seemed to be out of sync. I don’t know why, we had great practices this week and we played well last week.”

Rowan had nine his 11 points after halftime and Wikelius, who was 5-for-6 at the stripe, finished with a team-high 12 points.

“It was a great senior season,” Wikelius said. “We had a lot of fun, worked hard this year, we did really good and I’m proud of the season. We ended early, but I’m proud of the season.”

Severt had seven points for Westlake, junior Will Morse added six points and sophomore Chase Carlton had five.

Westlake finishes the season 23-10 after going 8-2 in District 15-5A play, with a +12 win improvement from last season.

The team will graduate Wikelius and Rowan along with fellow seniors Cole Norton, Stephen Upton, Holden Penn, Ben Durbin, James Pazdral and Blake Box.

Returning will be juniors Morse, Vincent DeBlasio and sophomores Severt and Carlton.

“I’m going to give them a lot of credit,” Ellis said. “These guys really stepped up – our seniors in particular  did a great job leading by example with work ethic and expectations. We’re going to lose a lot as far as their abilities but they have a lot to be proud of.”

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We welcome your comments on our stories but will publish only those that do not violate our commenting guidelines

We welcome your comments on our stories but will publish only those that do not violate our commenting guidelines

The Westlake girls basketball team lost a heartbreaker on a last-second shot to Bowie Tuesday night, 55-53, muddying the District 15-5A playoff picture.
Shortly after Christine Northington nailed a 3-pointer to tie the game with less than a minute to play, Bowie’s Kendra King grabbed an offensive rebound and scored at the buzzer for the Bowie win.
“We fought hard,” Westlake coach Allison Wooley said. “I thought we had the tie there, it was a tough way to lose.”
The result finds both teams tied for second in the district at 7-3, meaning Bowie and Westlake finish as co-district runner-up and had to go to a coin flip to determine seeding. Westlake came out third after the flip, and the Chaps will have a very tough test in the bi-district round of the playoffs, taking on Georgetown 7 p.m. Monday at Vandegrift High School.
After a sluggish first quarter, Westlake led for most of the game, until Bowie’s Ally Bradley tied the game 48-48 on a free throw with 3:12 remaining.
Westlake’s Liz Carter recaptured the lead with a physical offensive rebound and put-back, but Bowie managed to run the clock and pull ahead 53-50 with the help of an aggressive defense and accurate free throw shooting.
With 15 seconds left in the game, Westlake’s Northington pulled up in the corner and drained a game-tying 3-pointer.
The Lady Bulldogs then rushed the ball down the court and missed two layups before King grabbed another offensive rebound for Bowie and iced the game with a buzzer-beater for the win.
“I knew we needed a 3-pointer, and I prepare for that shot,” Northington said. “I want to take that shot.”
Despite the late fireworks, the majority of the game was a defensive slugfest, with both teams breaking into bonus in each half. The majority of Westlake’s points came from Carter and Jamie Grace driving through slapping hands into the paint. Carter finished with a team-high 20 points, Grace finished with 10.
On the outside, Sarah Mason contributed eight points, including two three-point shots.
“We went into this knowing it would be a physical game,” Wooley said. “Hopefully, this game will give us the edge that we need. We haven’t had a tough game in a while. Hopefully we can use this as preparation for the playoffs.”
Both teams struggled to score early on, with the Lady Chaps scoring the first points of the game on free throws. Toward the end of the first quarter, Westlake began to find their groove and pulled ahead 19-12.
Bowie answered at the beginning of the second quarter when back-to-back 3-pointers by King and a free throw by Shelby Dixon tied the game 20-20. The teams scrapped back and forth for the remainder of the half, with Westlake coming out on top 31-25.
Westlake seemed to have the game in hand, leading by as many as 10 points late in the third quarter.
However, King and the Lady Bulldogs went on a 14-6 run in the fourth quarter, setting up the late game drama. King finished with a game-high 29 points.
“I don’t know what to say,” Westlake’s Angelica Martinez said. “It was a tough loss. We may play them again, and if we do, we’ll be ready.”

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Jamie Grace and Liz Carter combined for 47 points and 23 rebounds Friday night as the Westlake girls basketball team took another step closer to the playoffs by defeating the visiting Akins Lady Eagles 62-57.
With a berth secured, Westlake is one game ahead of Bowie (6-3 in district) for second place with one game to play, the regular-season finale Tuesday which has the Chaps (22-9, 7-2 District) visiting Bowie.
With Westlake leading by seven points going into the fourth quarter, Chaps coach Allison Wooley knew that to win the game, her team would have to change their focus.
“I told them that, offensively, we could score at will, but defensively we had to get stops,” Wooley said. “I wouldn’t say we locked them down, but once defense became our focus it really helped us get the win.”
Wooley’s words made an impact, as Westlake — using a full-court press — was able to hold Akins (9-22, 2-7) to 15 points in the final period en route to their seventh win in eight contests.
After a lackluster first quarter, which resulted in a 10-7 Westlake lead, the teams turned up the pressure as the Lady Eagles and Lady Chaps both utilized early presses to create turnovers. However, Westlake took advantage of the weak Akins pressure, quickly jumping 24-15 lead behind multiple fast break layups from Grace.
Grace, a 6-2 Texas State University-commit, was able to run the floor with ease against the smaller Lady Eagle defenders, resulting in 13 second quarter points for the all-district star. Not only being extremely effective in the paint, but also being able to knock down the mid-range jumpers, Grace proved that her versatility helps propel the team to victory.
Grace finished the evening with 25 points and 11 rebounds.
“I love playing in the paint,” Grace said of her roles, “but I love getting the opportunities, like tonight, where I can step out and hit some jumpers.”
Also helping the Lady Chaps to the 28-22 first-half lead was Liz Carter, who contributed seven of her 22 total points in the second quarter.
“There isn’t a better person to go up against every day in practice than Jamie,” Carter said of her teammate. “She’s such a mentor to me and I love grinding it out on the court alongside her, especially when we get wins.”
However, the Lady Eagles were not willing to go down without a fight in the second half, as guard Kelli Miles dropped in two of five three pointers as she fought for 22 points on the night.
The fourth quarter proved to be strikingly similar to the second quarter. After allowing the Lady Eagles to get within two points of the lead with six minutes remaining, Grace and Carter got to work again, creating havoc on defense and working together for success on offense.
“They compliment each other so much,” Wooley said. “We come into every game with the opponent knowing who Jamie is — they know that she’s a big presence inside. Liz is the trashcan. She will pick up anything and put it back in.”
Lady Eagles forward Sarah Hemmitt also added 17 points, but it wasn’t enough as Westlake got the best of the faulty Lady Eagles 62-57.
Anderson will win the district title, sitting at 9-0 after Friday night. Akins and Austin High are both 2-7 while Del Valle is 1-8.

Although Akins is winless in District 15-5A, Westlake went down to the wire with the Eagles for the second time this season to pull out a win.
The Chaps (21-8, 6-1) needed a last-second miss by Akins (12-17, 0-7) to secure a 66-64 win on the road Friday night, overcoming foul trouble to stay tied atop the district. Earlier this season Westlake needed an overtime frame to topple Akins and its furious, frantic attacking offense.
“In our district it’s really competitive, everyone sees Westlake and think it’s their shot,” senior forward Drew Wikelius said. “This whole season we’ve been doing really well. We’ve had some close games, we beat them in overtime at Westlake, but we’ve been able to come back and take big hits and still win them.”
It seemed every quarter had a different hero for the Chaps along the way, with Will Morse, Wikelius, Chase Carlton and RJ Rowan each taking turns. Wikelius had 10 in the first quarter, Morse scored nine in the second, Carlton posted 10 points in the third quarter and the fourth featured just nine points by the Chaps.
“Our bench really came through today and helped us a lot, we had some foul issues,” coach Tres Ellis said. “That’s the great thing about the team that we have, we can go to some other guys when we need them.”
Morse finished with an impressive line of 15 points, eight rebounds and six assists while sinking 8 of 12 free throws. Wikelius was in and out of the game with foul trouble but still managed to post a team-high 17 points and six boards.
Carlton added 12 points, 10 of which came in the third quarter as he aggressively attacked the basket and put Westlake back in front, while Rowan had eight of his 11 points in the second half.
“We played a lot of tight games but the fact we can hold them out and win them is good,” Carlton said. “The first half (shots) weren’t falling so I figured in the second half, they would. I kept shooting, kept trusting my shot.”
At 6-1 in district, the Chaps have not won a game by more than eight points as they are now tied with Bowie for the district lead. Furthermore, Westlake hasn’t had a lot of games decided by a wide margin, win or loss.
“We were just talking about that actually,” Morse said. “If we get in any tight games, we’ve got a really good record in those tight games and we’ll be prepared for those tight ones when playoffs come around.”

Down to the wire
The Chaps had a 13-5 lead at one point but it was down to 20-17 at the end of the first quarter. In the second frame, Akins kept firing and went to the break with a 41-34 edge as Westlake stopped crashing to the basket and started to try and answer every Eagles make.
“Their shots started falling and I think we started to panic a little bit,” Wikelius said. “Then we got away from what we were doing and that’s what got them back in it. “
After the break, Westlake came out and regained the lead thanks to Carlton and Rowan, but the Chaps couldn’t create any separation to put the Eagles away.
In the pivotal fourth quarter, Akins was able to pull even at 57-57 with 6:27 left to play, but a 3-pointer from the left wing by Rowan gave the Chaps a lead they would not relinquish again.
“They tried to spread us out, and it’s a good strategy obviously,” said Ellis of Akins one-on-one approach. “And obviously what we want to do is go into our big guys because we have a size advantage. When we got away from that for a little bit that’s when they got ahead.”
With the game at 62-61 Chaps, Wikelius made a nice move in the post and pushed the lead back to three, but a layup on the other end made it a one-point margin yet again.
After finally getting into the bonus, Morse knocked down two freebies with 26 seconds left to make it a 66-63 game.
Instead of going for the tie Akins attacked the hoop and got a foul, but made just one to give the ball back to the Chaps still trailing by two. However, just moments after making the clutch free throws, Morse threw the ball away amidst full-court pressure and Akins had one last shot at it.
Again, the home team tried to go for two instead of three and a long 2-pointer rimmed out to seal the win for Westlake.
“They came and gave us their best shot,” Carlton said. “We didn’t have the best first half, but we came back and took it to them and busted out of it.”
The Chaps looked like they would run away with the game early.
In the beginning, the Chaps were cutting hard to the hoop and finding open teammates with crisp passes for easy buckets. Then the Eagles simply caught fire in the second quarter and drained nearly every shot they put up, propelling Akins to a seven-point halftime lead.
The Westlake defense was noticeably different after halftime. Fredd Richardson had 18 points and the break and the Eagles had shot 6-for-8 on 3’s. After the break, Richardson had just two more points and Akins went 0-for-3 from outside, not getting many open looks.
“When they would try to take one of our guys one-on-one we would go back down and feel like we would have to do the same thing, which isn’t our game,” Morse said. “We broke down on defense and they were unconscious shooting, we just didn’t play very good defense but we picked it up in the second half.”

Key plays, key game
Some key plays kept the Chaps in control. Heading into halftime senior guard Holden Penn made a big 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut Akins lead down from 10 to seven. Just before the third quarter buzzer sounded, Rowan faked a shot and leaned to the right for an open angle over a defender, launched and swished through a trey to take Westlake’s lead from one point up to 57-53, six crucial points in a two-point win.
“Somebody different will come up, like Holden tonight,” Ellis said. “He hit the 3 right before halftime, which was big, and he hasn’t seen the floor in a couple of games. But he stepped right in did what we needed to when we needed it, and I’m really proud of him for that.”
Jordan Severt banged in the paint on both sides of the ball and finished with six points, eight rebounds and three assists. Blake Box added four boards and two steals to go with four points, and Rowan nailed all three of his 3’s.
The Chaps went 14 of 20 from the line while Akins shot a woeful 4-for-13 from the charity stripe.
Now the Chaps will play Bowie (22-6, 6-1) Tuesday for the sole rights to first place in District 15-5A. Westlake won the first meeting, 67-60, and the tip is scheduled for 8 p.m. at Westlake.
After losing to Bowie Friday night, Anderson is now 4-3 in district. Austin High sits in fourth place at 3-4 after beating Del Valle, which is now 2-5 in district.
“We played a lot of tight games but the fact we can hold them out and win them is good,” Carlton said. “We’re first in district right now and we’re happy about that.”

AUSTIN— It took a defensive stop, and a little good fortune, in the final seconds for Westlake to secure a 55-54 win Friday night on the road against Austin High.

With the Chaps (19-8, 4-1 District 15-5A) clinging to a one-point lead with 2.4 seconds remaining in the game, the Maroons’ Matt Jones missed an open baseline 3-pointer to seal the district win for Westlake.

“(The Maroons) ran a great play and got the shot off,” Westlake coach Tres Ellis said of the final play, “but we took away their key player, and forced (Jones) to take the shot. It paid off.”

After winning the opening tip, the Chaps quickly got off to the type of start their accustomed to— utilizing effective half-court offense and perimeter ball movement. Led by junior Will Morse and senior post Drew Wikelius, Westlake was able to jump out to an early 12-0 run that consumed the first six minutes of the game, a needed early spark after the start against Anderson the game before.

However, Austin High (16-0, 2-3) was able to steadily chop the lead, largely in part to Maroons forward Patrick Strake. Strake showed poise from beyond the arc and grit in the paint, drawing many fouls early and, in turn, headed to the free-throw line where he was 5-for-8 on the night.

Wikelius, who, despite having 14 points for the Chaps, made his biggest contribution came on the defensive end, was assigned the task of guarding the 6-6 Strake

“He’s a tough player, they go to him every time,” Wikelius said. “You’ve got to play him straight up but have to make a note to play with good principles and not let him get the best of you.”

Strake led the game’s scorers with 21 points.

Holding onto a 30-25 advantage at the half, Westlake needed another interior presence to help slow Strake, who was wearing on Wikelius’ sole effort.

That’s when Jordan Severt stepped up.

Though being an offensive non-factor through the first half, Severt, a sophomore, increased his scoring production in the third quarter. After guard RJ Rowan missed an early-half layup attempt, Severt bullied through the lane and controlled the rebound, putting it back up (and in) for two of his five points in the quarter.

“I had heard about the competiveness of this game from the older guys, and I know to get my points, I would have to be physical down there,” he said. “It’s always different, you’ve just got to get big (in the paint).”

With the score knotted at 37-37 in the third quarter, Severt and Wikelius used their familiarity with each other to hold off a reenergized Austin attack. After receiving the ball in the post, Wikelius spun towards to hoop to and found a wide-open Severt for an easy layup.

“When I feel that double-team coming, I know exactly where to look,” Wikelius said of his teammate, Severt. “He is always in the right spot when I need him the most.”

Severt would finish with five points, all in the third quarter.

Though leading by as much as 12 in the game, Westlake took only a two-point lead into the fourth quarter, and the Maroons were determined to make the Chaps fight for the ‘W’.

Fight, they did.

Westlake’s guard play proved vital during the final period, as Morse, Chase Carlton, and Cole Norton all contributed in the back-and-forth quarter. Norton, a senior who has missed games recently due to injury, provided four of his 11 points in the quarter but effectively allowed the Chaps to rotate guards with ease in crunch time.

Morse, who tallied 11 points on the night, sparked the Chaps with a hard drive for two following a controversial charge taken by Norton with just under two minutes remaining.

With the ball and 20 seconds remaining, Strake was fouled hard by Wikelius, resulting in two made free throws and a one-point margin, 55-54. With the gymnasium electrified, Morse was immediately fouled, missing the front-end of a 1-and-1 situation, giving Austin a final chance to score.

The Maroons, eager, yet unable, to get the ball to Strake, had to settle with a long inbound pass to sophomore guard Matt Jones in the corner for a three-point attempt. Unlike his other 12 points, however, this one didn’t go in the goal.

The Chaps look to continue winning as they host Del Valle Tuesday night.

In other 15-5A games Friday night:

Bowie (4-1) beat Akins (0-5) 65-52

Anderson (3-2) defeated Del Valle (2-3) 52-41

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Some goals were met while one big goal still stayed out of the Westlake girls basketball team’s grasp in a 56-38 win over visiting Austin High Friday night.

Coming off a three-point loss to Anderson and a one-point win over Bowie in which the Chaps were outplayed and outscored in the first quarter, Westlake came out intent on putting pressure on the Lady Maroons from the tip.

That much was accomplished as Westlake (21-9, 5-2 in District 15-5A) held a 9-0 lead in the first and was up 31-11 at halftime.

After the break, though, the team misfired on the larger goal of playing four solid quarters, as Austin High (1-6 in district) snuck back into the game with a 16-6 advantage in the third frame before the Chaps closed out the win.

“It was a real priority that we go out there and execute our plays,” said senior post Jamie Grace. “We were a little frustrated they closed the lead, but I wasn’t too worried. I knew we were going to come out and have a strong fourth quarter.”

To start the game, four quick points from Liz Carter (on her birthday), three from Angelica Martinez and two points by Christine Northington put the Chaps ahead 9-0 in less than two minutes of play.

While Austin High would close the gap to end the quarter, Westlake came out scorching the nets and swarming on defense in the second quarter to outscore Austin High 15-1.

“Our goal was to get them to call a timeout within the first two minutes of the game, that’s the goal we always have but we stressed it tonight and they did a good job of stepping up early,” coach Allison Wooley said. “Then we kind of dropped off.”

For as dominant as the Chaps looked in the second quarter, they were equally as sloppy to start the second half.

Mason nailed a 3-pointer to put Westlake up 34-11, but Austin High scored the next eight points to make it 34-19. By the quarter’s end the Lady Maroons had pulled within 37-27, and got within eight points at 44-36 with just 4:27 left to play.

“I said now’s the time to turn it up, they’re trying to creep into this game and if we don’t take care of business they’ll find a way,” she said. “Tonight was  little bit more scary than id like it to be.”

Kamri Ball provided a spark and finished with a game-high 14 points, Martinez scored 11, Sarah Mason added 10 points and Grace finished with nine.

“I think we just need to trust ourselves,” Grace said. “We need to go out and play our game but so far we play good three quarters. If we can put a full four quarters together we’ll be unstoppable. I definitely think we’re reaching that goal and learning every time we come out on the court, we’ll be looking real good  going into playoffs.”

With just three district games remaining, the Chaps are running out of time to work out that last kink, though the team hopes the letdown in the second half is the last one.

“Honestly, even though Anderson was a loss I saw some great things coming out of that game,” Wooley said. “Bowie the same thing, we won that one but as far as getting it done together we’ve done a good job.”

Seeing the team pull back together when the game got tight was a big key, Wooley said.
“Tonight I think we lost our cool a little bit,” she said. “I don’t think it’s anything we can’t come back from, but letting it happen now, getting that negative energy out a little bit now is much better compared to later.”

Westlake takes to the road after a stretch of home games, playing at Del Valle 7 p.m. Tuesday.

In other 15-5A games Friday:

Anderson (6-0) topped Del Valle (1-5) 52-14

Bowie (5-2) beat Akins (2-5) 61-42

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