EMMA — Playing a team like the Wawasee Warriors that enjoys the faster tempo gives a team more chances to make plays and that is just what the Westview Warriors did Tuesday night.

Westview took advantage of all those extra scoring opportunities to post an 81-74 high school boys basketball win Tuesday night at Westview.

The 81 points is the most Westview has scored since a 93-72 win at Wawasee in the 2008-09 season.

“The extra possessions you get in a game like this are chances to make plays,” Westview coach Rob Yoder said. “We told the guys that plays where we might take four or five passes to get the shot we are looking for we might get after the first pass with Wawasee. The thing is when the shots are there you have to step up and hit them.”

Westview hit those shots, making 29-of-52 field goals (55.8 percent).

“We told the guys that in a normal game you might have a turnover and miss a couple of shots and still have a good game,” Yoder said. “Tonight you might have three turnovers and miss six shots and still have a good game, because of the extra possessions.”

Westview junior Kyle Miller tossed in a career-high 31 points to lead Westview. His previous best was 19 this year against Eastside.

“Kyle has made a commitment to play hard on the defensive end and that is allowing him to make plays on the offensive end,” Yoder said.

Miller had the hot hand for Westview in the opening period as he tossed in 14 points as the team opened a 22-12 lead.

He slowed down in the second (four points) and third (three) quarters only to net 10 in the fourth.

Senior Brant Yoder chipped in with 21 points for the winners. He scored the bulk (15) of his points in the middle two periods.

Westview led 43-29 at halftime and 58-49 after three periods.

Westview took a 74-63 lead with 2:00 to go in the game when Miller swished a pair of freebies. Wawasee then got a layup from junior Ryndan Aaron, another from Alex Clark, a free throw from senior Jake Clark and a layin from Jake Clark to pull within four points (74-70) with :57 left to play.

Westview iced the game at the free-throw line as Miller hit two at :39, freshman Chandler Aspy one at :30 and Brant Yoder two at :17.

“The way Wawasee shoots 3-pointers no lead is insurmountable,” Yoder said. “If there was a stretch in the game where we did not play well it was from the 3:00 minute mark to the 1:00 minute mark. We made some turnovers that allowed Wawasee to cut into out lead.

“We made plays in this game on a pretty consistent basis except for those couple minutes there at the end. One thing we want the guys to learn from this is that we need to do a better job of closing things out at the end.”

Wawasee was 9-of-28 from beyond the arc in the contest. Freshman Alex Clark was 6-of-10 and senior Trent Koble 5-of-10 to lead the team.

“This game was good preparation for us to be the best team we can be in March,” Yoder said. “Being the best by tournament time has been the goal since day one. We have made a lot of improvement. We have always been a pretty solid team on defense and we are getting better on offense.”

Westview had 14 turnovers with six of them coming late in the game.

“We have got to take better care of the basketball and not make mistakes,” Yoder said. “It sounds simple, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to do.”

Senior Adrian Brandenberger added 10 points, sophomore Jordyn Bontrager eight and junior Nic Raber six for Westview.

Jake Clark and Alex Clark had 16 points apiece for Wawasee, Koble 13, senior Bauer Schmeltz 10, senior Zac Patrick and Aaron both nine.

Westview (17-2) is at Goshen Friday and Wawasee (9-10) at Plymouth Thursday.