By Jeremy Martin

Friday night’s boy’s basketball clash between West Seattle High and Bishop-Blanchet carried a little extra meaning for all in attendance as the 2014 Senior Night would be the final time that more than half of the Wildcats squad would suit up for a home game.

In the end West Seattle put forth a valiant effort but it wasn’t enough to send out the departing seniors with a win, as the Wildcats were upended 78-48 by the hot shooting braves.

Blanchet big man Matt Welch was more than a handful for the Wildcats doing damage from all over the court, knocking down several three pointers with ease as well as banging downstairs en route to 32 points and 12 rebounds.

Trailing by two points midway through the second quarter, the Braves turned up the juice and nearly closed out the first half on a 12-2 run before an NBA range three pointer from West Seattle’s Malachi Cain hit nothing but net giving the hosts some much needed momentum heading into the final sixteen minutes of play.

The shot however did little to slow down the Blanchet offensive attack as the Braves would outscore the Wildcats by thirteen in the third quarter, taking a 58-38 lead into the fourth and cruising from there to the finish line.

West Seattle did show plenty of first half life.

Trailing for the whole of the first quarter, West Seattle stormed back in the second thanks to ninety seconds of high energy basketball.

Down by four, Spencer Elder nailed a three pointer to pull the Wildcats to within a point. The senior guard followed up his shot by blocking a brave jumper and leading a semi fast break back down the court. Freshman Nate Prior would finish the break with a layup, allowing West Seattle to take a 21-20 lead.

Moments later a Matt Welch layup would bring the lead back to the Braves, but it would only take a matter of seconds for West Seattle to race down the court with senior Deandre Love flushing home an ally-oop that brought the packed stands to its knees.

From there however the wildcats would go cold before Cain’s buzzer beating triple sent the hosts into the locker room on a high note.

Cain would finish the game with 9 points.

But as has been the case for most of the season, the team was led by Love who put up 21 points and pulled down 8 rebounds.

Both Elder and senior Ruslan Burduzha netted six points apiece.

Freshman Keegan Crosby scored 12 points for the Braves while senior Matteo Schiro put up 11 and added four rebounds.

This story will be updated with a slideshow.