Westwood High School's boys' basketball team remained on course to earn a share of the Feather River League crown with a pair of wins last week.
The Lumberjacks (20-2, 9-1) dumped Loyalton 68-55 Wednesday, Feb. 7 and came back to beat Greenville 70-64 on Friday, Feb. 9.

"We got the job done. We had some problems in each game, but we got through them," Westwood head coach Phil Bryant said. "It keeps us in line to play Portola for a share of the title and we want to hang on to the No. 1 seed and get some home games in the playoffs."

Westwood, the Northern Section's top-ranked Division VI team, hosts Chester Tuesday, Feb. 13 and travels to Portola Thursday, Feb. 15.

Portola leads the Lumberjacks by a game in the league standings.

Concerned about his team's customary slow starts, Bryant's worries were eased a bit when Westwood jumped on top of Loyalton early, leading 25-9 at the end of the first quarter. The Lumberjacks' lead was not seriously threatened from then on.

Westwood was in foul trouble throughout the game and attempted a mere four free throws compared to Loyalton's 20.

"We fouled more than I would have liked and put them at the free throw line far too much," Bryant said. "Hopefully this problem doesn't become our Achilles heel."

T.J. Arterberry poured in 29 to lead Westwood. Mike Naseath and Nick Brown scored 14.

"Nick is really starting to score and rebound well. He has become a real threat on the court," Bryant said.

The disparity in free throws continued against Greenville as Westwood failed to attempt one in the first half, while the Indians shot 15.

"They outplayed us in the first half, but at halftime we made an adjustment on defense and the kids responded well to trailing by seven," Bryant said.

Westwood staged a 10-0 run to start the third quarter and took a lead it never relinquished.

Arterberry netted a game-high 27 and Naseath added 20 points. Brown had 14. Arterberry ripped down a combined 33 rebounds in both games, and Brown collected 21.

Ranked below Westwood in Division VI are Bishop Quinn, Dunsmuir and Champion Christian respectively.

"All three teams are decent and have good players. We want to make sure we play them on our court," he said.

The road to the Division VI crown begins next week.