Sherman’s Jacob Swabik attempts to dribble past Westfield’s Logan Tuah during Wednesday’s CCAA Division 2 West basketball game in Westfield. P-J photo by Braden Carmen

WESTFIELD — A year ago, Carson Swanson shared the floor with his older brother Darien on a Section VI championship-winning Westfield Wolverines team. But as just a freshman, Carson’s role was as a complementary scorer as his older brother put together one of the most impressive seasons in Western New York.

A year later, it is Carson’s time to shine — and nothing the visiting Sherman Wildcats did on Wednesday night could dim his light.

Swanson scored a game-high 25 points to lead Westfield to a 57-44 victory over Sherman in the Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 2 West opener for both teams at Westfield Academy & Central School.

“Carson has put a lot into basketball. Since we lost that (Far West Regional) game at Buffalo State, he hasn’t put the ball down,” said Westfield head coach Nolan Swanson, Carson’s father. “Last year he was our spot-up guy in the corner, and look what he’s capable of now.”

After each team scored a basket in the first minute of action, Westfield (2-1, 1-0) jumped ahead with a 9-0 run including a four-point play, two free throws, and a fast-break layup all by Swanson to put the Wolverines ahead 11-2 just 2:28 into the game.

“They set up in a 2-3 zone at the beginning, so they weren’t really keying in on me like the box-and-one where you just follow a guy around, so I was able to get more shots off that,” said Carson Swanson.

“We’ve got a lot of new guys, and I think the moment right off the bat, it was a little bit much for our guys,” said Sherman head coach Cory Emory. “(Swanson) has a lot of varsity experience from last year so he came out feeling comfortable with the atmosphere, when we were a little tentative and he took advantage of that.”

From that point on, Westfield held the lead the entire way. Sherman (1-1, 0-1) never got closer than a 16-12 deficit in the final minute of the first quarter.

“We didn’t ever get much further away, so yeah that kind of set the tone for the game,” said Nolan Swanson of the quick start. “We didn’t play the prettiest basketball after that. Sherman always has a way of finding a good defense. (Sherman has) a really good coach.”

The Wolverines led 18-12 after the first period of play and 29-20 at the half, with 15 of the 29 Westfield points scored by Swanson.

“He’s a hard guard. He’s a great player and we did what we could to slow him down,” Emory said of Swanson.

Westfield was held scoreless for the first three minutes of the second half, but Sherman was unable to cut into the lead by more than just two points. Swanson hit a 3-pointer to put the Wolverines back up by double digits, 32-22, and the game was never more than a point closer than that the rest of the way. The Westfield lead was maintained despite Swanson scoring only seven of the final 25 points for the Wolverines.

“When we get contributions from the other guys like we did in the fourth quarter, that’s what will make us a good team,” said Nolan Swanson.

“Some of the other guys in that late third and early fourth quarter were making shots for Westfield. We kept scoring, but we couldn’t cut into the lead because they kept scoring,” Emory added.

Sherman struggled with missed free-throws all game long. The Wildcats were only 4 for 20 from the free-throw line, with many of the misses as the front end of a one-and-one opportunity. “We talked about it after the game. No. 1 on the list is free throws. Those are things we practice every day,” said Emory. ” … It caught up with us. (We need to) learn from it. Don’t be upset by it.”

Six different scorers had between 4 and 7 points for the Wolverines in the win. Sherman was led by Brayden Hayes with 21 points and also got 13 points from Seven Thomas, 7 points from Kegan Ayers, and 3 points from Jacob Swabik.

Despite the loss in a game his team never led, Emory feels proud of his team’s effort in the first league game of the year.

“My guys competed. I think a lot of them had to learn that compete gene — and they found it. Now I’m happy we can move forward,” said Emory. “Tonight they learned to compete. Next game, hopefully we’ll keep learning other things. That’s what it’s all about, getting these guys to play better and better as the year goes.”

Even with the victory, Nolan Swanson was not entirely pleased with the outcome. “It shows us what we need to get better at,” he said. “It’s a really good lesson.”

But as they say, a win is a win — especially over a division rival.

“We want to continue that streak again like last year,” Carson Swanson said of winning the first league game of the season, after an undefeated league record a year ago. “It makes us want to win more games to do the same thing this time.”

Both teams are in action again on Monday night in league contests. Westfield travels to Panama while Sherman hosts Maple Grove.

SHERMAN (44)

Ayers 3 1 7, Thomas 5 0 13, Swabik 1 0 3, Beatman 0 0 0, Johnson 0 0 0, Meeder 0 0 0, Hayes 8 3 21, Applebee 0 0 0. Totals 17 4 44.

WESTFIELD (57)

Ormsby 2 0 4, Tuah 1 5 7, Lawrence 0 0 0, Swanson 7 8 25, Strong 3 0 7, Larson 2 0 5, Vacanti 0 0 0, Fuller 1 3 5, Rotunda 2 0 4. Totals 18 16 57.

3-point goals–Thomas 3, Swabik, Hayes 2, Swanson 3, Strong, Larson.

Sherman 12 8 8 16 — 44

Westfield 18 11 14 14 — 57