Quimari’s tip
West Side’s Quimari Peterson poked the ball away for a steal, drove to the basket and finished through contact.
After showing a hint of emotion by flexing his right biceps, he calmly stepped to the free-throw line to complete the 3-point play.
That sequence less than a minute into the fourth quarter was one of Friday night’s multiple highlights from Peterson, a 6-foot sophomore guard.
He scored a career-high 25 points as West Side topped visiting Bowman 58-40.
“I had to show them what I could do,” Peterson said. “I had to get my team up.”
Peterson propelled the Cougars (8-3) to their first win against the Eagles (8-8) since 2008. Bowman had won three straight games since the series resumed in 2016.
Peterson took the win in stride.
“We’re happy,” he said. “We worked hard as a group.
“We were locked in. The coaches gave us the details, and we did what we had to do.”
West Side coach Chris Buggs also downplayed the time elapsed between wins against Bowman.
“I knew it, but we didn’t talk about it,” he said. “These kids grew up together; there’s a little rivalry, but the focus is on us and getting better every day. We try not to get caught up in that because that can distract you.”
Peterson seemed focused from the outset, scoring seven points in the first quarter. He got fouled on a 3-pointer as time expired and made all three free throws with the court cleared to give West Side a 17-8 lead.
Peterson scored the Cougars’ first seven points of the third quarter to extend their advantage to 32-20. And his 3-point play with 7:07 left pushed it to 43-23.
“He’s not driven by scoring — he’s driven by winning,” Buggs said of Peterson. “We’ve been on him about scoring a little bit more, but our team is based on sharing.
“This game was an anomaly. He has the ability to do that, but it’s not something he really wants to do — he really wants to be a 12 points, eight assists, seven rebounds guy. He’s a true point guard.”
Within that ro l e, Peterson also has been encouraged by Buggs to be more expressive.
“He tries to lead by example,” Buggs said of Peterson. “He’s a quiet kid, very humble, and I like that about him. We’re trying to make him a leader, but it’s not natural for him.”
Senior guard Avion Holt led Bowman with 12 points and junior guard/forward Jaquez Williams added nine.
Sophomore guard/forward Parion Roberson scored 14 points for West Side.
“We played as a team, we played with effort and spirit,” Buggs said. “We had some togetherness and were connected.”
NFL: Former Cardinals coach Bruce Arians emerged as a favorite to land the Bucs’ coaching job after interviewing Saturday. ... USC denied the Jets and the Cardinals a chance to interview new offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, according to reports. ... The Jets interviewed former Packers coach Mike McCarthy, the third candidate to meet with the team since Todd Bowles was fired. ... Patriots linebackers coach and defensive play-caller Brian Flores met with the Broncos and the Browns about their head coaching vacancies. ... 49ers S Antone Exum Jr. was fined $53,482 for his hit on Rams WR Robert Woods. Also, the Bills’ Jordan Mills was fined $13,369 for unsportsmanlike conduct, and the Dolphins’ Kiko Alonso and Robert Quinn were fined $10,026 for unnecessary roughness.
SOCCER: Manchester United interim manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer collected a record-tying fifth straight win at the start of his tenure as his team beat second-tier Reading 2-0 in the third round of the FA Cup. The other four victories had come in the Premier League. Also in the FA Cup, West Ham and Burnley advanced with victories over lower-league opponents, while Brighton won 3-1 at Bournemouth in an all-EPL matchup.
TENNIS: Roger Federer won the Hopman Cup for a record third time when defending champion Switzerland beat Germany 2-1 in Perth, Australia. Federer and Belinda Bencic beat Alexander Zverev and Angelique Kerber 4-0, 1-4, 4-3 (4) in the Fast4 format. ... Kei Nishikori defeated Jeremy Chardy 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals of the Brisbane International. He’ll play Daniil Medvedev, a 7-6 (6), 6-2 winner over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, in the final. On the women’s s i d e, L e s i a Tsurenko beat Naomi Osaka 6-2, 6-4 and Karolina Pliskova topped Donna Vekic 6-3, 6-4. ... A day after upsetting Novak Djokovic, Roberto Bautista Agut won the Qatar Open in Oha by beating Tomas Berdych 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. ... Kevin Anderson won his sixth ATP title when he recovered from trailing 5-2 in the decisive tiebreaker to beat Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (4), 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5) in the Maharashtra Open final in Pune, India.
— Edited from news services