Mar 16, 2025
OBSERVER Photo by Jason Bower Westfield’s Carson Swanson is fouled on a layup attempt during Saturday’s Class C Far West Regional against Honeoye at Rush-Henrietta High School.
HENRIETTA – One by one, teary-eyed members of Westfield’s basketball team filtered out of their locker room to find family and friends in the lobby of the Rush-Henrietta High School gymnasium Saturday evening.
When the day started, the Wolverines truly believed they would still have another week of basketball ahead of them this winter.
Honeoye had other ideas.
The Bulldogs sank 7 of 10 free throws in the final 1:14 of the game and survived fouling Section VI’s all-time leading scorer on a 3-point attempt with 1.8 seconds remaining to beat Westfield 64-60 in the Class C Far West Regional in suburban Rochester.
With the win, Honeoye clinched its second trip to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association semifinals and first since 1985.
OBSERVER Photo by Jason Bower Westfield’s Braylon Swanson puts up a 3-point attempt during Saturday’s Class C Far West Regional against Honeoye at Rush-Henrietta High School.
“I knew that these kids work incredibly hard,” Honeoye head coach Robb Delisanti said postgame. ” … We played 34 games together in the offseason. I knew we’d be good.”
For the Wolverines, the loss ends their season and those of five seniors, including Carson Swanson, the school’s all-time leading scorer who finished second in Western New York history with 2,448 points – 28 shy of the record.
“Just like the last two weeks, we said let’s get through this one and practice another week to play again,” Westfield head coach Nolan Swanson said. “It’s a great group of guys.”
Two statistics were crucial to Westfield’s downfall: 17 turnovers and 14-of-25 shooting at the foul line.
“As a coach, I just had them a little underestimated and didn’t get us quite ready,” Swanson said.
OBSERVER Photo by Jason Bower Westfield’s Nolan Anderson shoots along the baseline during Saturday’s Class C Far West Regional against Honeoye at Rush-Henrietta High School.
The Bulldogs led by as many as 10 midway through the fourth quarter before things started to get a lot tighter.
Carson Swanson hit a 3-pointer with 3:48 remaining to make it 56-49 and, after a free throw from Honeoye’s Landon Washburn, Zach Maguire hit a 3-pointer to make it a five-point game.
“It was a typical game of so many people coming at him,” Nolan Swanson said of his middle son, Carson. “He’s seeing open people and trying to get the ball to the right spot.”
Swanson then converted a three-point play to make it 57-55 with 2:36 left and Maguire followed with a putback through contact before making the free throw to give the Wolverines a 58-57 lead with 1:35 left – Westfield’s first lead since it was 18-16 early in the second quarter.
But even with a pair of Bulldogs starters fouling out on back-to-back possessions, the Wolverines were not able to execute down the stretch.
“We’ve had two guys foul out all year and we had two foul out tonight,” Delisanti said. “I’m not really sure what happened, but Swanson probably had something to do with it.”
Braiden Schneider tied the game at 58-all on a free throw with 1:14 remaining and Westfield turned the ball over on its next possession. Washburn, a sophomore who finished with a game-high 28 points, then made 1 of 2 free throws to give his team a 59-58 lead.
“He goes both directions well. He’s heavy and pretty aggressive,” Nolan Swanson said of Washburn. “Quite honestly, when we did play him well, the off guys hit some shots. I hadn’t seen any of that to that degree. They just made too many shots.”
The Wolverines came up empty on their next trip and Dylan Washburn added a free throw for Honeoye with 18.8 seconds remaining.
Swanson then made it a one-point game with a free throw and Westfield grabbed an offensive rebound before a miss on a point-blank layup that would’ve given the Wolverines the lead.
“We had a lot of chances and things that went well with certain plays,” Nolan Swanson said. “But people sometimes end up having to hit a reverse or a backwards shot, or catch it in a weird spot and it makes the shot tough sometimes.”
Dylan Washburn sank two free throws with 5.7 seconds left and Westfield was in need of a miracle.
It nearly came as Swanson was fouled on a 3-point attempt at the top of the key with 1.8 seconds remaining. But after his first free throw fell, the second glanced off the rim. Needing an intentional miss to get the ball back, Swanson’s third attempt didn’t touch iron.
“We had four sophomores on the court there at the end,” Delisanti said. “They didn’t quit and they didn’t fold.”
The Bulldogs inbounded and Schneider hit a pair of free throws to seal the Wolverines’ fate.
“You just come up against it sometimes,” Nolan Swanson said, “and it didn’t bounce in.”
Honeoye will play for the first state title in program history next weekend at Visions Veterans Memorial Arena in Binghamton.
” … In Section V you have to face 36 other schools, just to get out and go to the Far West Regional,” Delisanti said. “It’s not an easy task.”
The Bulldogs will take on the winner of today’s quarterfinal between Section III’s Cooperstown and Section IV’s Moravia. The other side of the bracket will feature Section I’s Tuckahoe and Section II’s Berne-Knox-Westerlo.
“They are a great team. The Swanson kid was the best player we’ve faced all year by far. They were huge. Maguire and (Grant) Beadle are huge,” Delisanti said of the Wolverines. “They are the biggest team and the best team we played all year.”
NOTES: Carson Swanson had 23 points, nine rebounds, eight assists and eight steals; Maguire had 13 points and nine rebounds; and Braylon Swanson had 10 points for Westfield, which shot 19 of 51 from the field, including 8 of 25 from 3-point range. … Schneider had 15 points and Dylan Washburn had 10 for Honeoye, which shot 22 of 46 from the field, including 4 of 14 from 3-point range, and turned the ball over 21 times.
WESTFIELD (60)
Paddock 0 0 0, BSwanson 4 0 10, Whitesell 1 0 3, Maguire 4 4 13, CSwanson 6 8 23, Thomas 1 2 5, Anderson 1 0 2, Beadle 2 0 4. Totals 19 14 60.
HONEOYE (64)
DWashburn 3 4 10, Schneider 5 3 15, Cuba 2 3 7, Reynolds 2 0 4, Blair 0 0 0, LWashburn 10 6 28, Stumbo 0 0 0. Totals 22 16 64.
3-point goals-BSwanson, Whitesell, Maguire, CSwanson 3, Thomas, Schneider 2, LWashburn 2.
Westfield 16 12 15 17 – 60
Honeoye 16 14 19 15 – 64
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