Redhawks’ Rise: Westwood boys capture first basketball state championship
Westwood basketball’s storybook season added a final chapter Thursday night.
Behind the duo of D’Marcus Thomas and Jayden Crews, the Redhawks defeated Greenville 67-55 to win the Class 5A Division II championship before a raucous crowd at Colonial Life Arena.
It is the first title in program history and just the second in a team sport at Westwood, which opened in 2012. The other came in girls track.
“It is surreal. It is something you dream of and talk about,” Westwood coach Trent Robinson said. “Every season, you want to end with a state championship. OK. What do you got to do to get it? We kept chipping away, chipping away, and now we are here. It is a surreal moment.
Robinson, 28, was the youngest coach in the state when the Redhawks took a chance on him and hired him three years ago. He was Westwood’s JV coach at the time and five of the seniors on this year’s roster were playing for him then.
Robinson reflected on that journey with his players during his pregame speech, in which he emphasized, “Why not Westwood? Why not us?”
“They trusted me,” Robinson said. “And the way high school ball is going, you don’t trust a lot of people. So I thank the parents for trusting me. I am not an easy coach to play for, but the fact they trusted me through the good and bad things. That is what this is all about.”
The game was a rematch from earlier this season. Greenville defeated Westwood, 55-50. In that game, the Redhawks (25-3) were 10 of 25 from the free-throw line while suffering their first loss of the season. Westwood hit 25 of 32 free throws in the title game.
The game was similar to last week’s state semifinal and most of their playoff games as Westwood fell behind early. The Redhawks trailed 18-4 in the first quarter before settling in.
“Honestly, we never start off a game good this year, especially in some of our big ones. We were down big against Ridge View, down big against Sumter,” Robinson said. “So that is how we play. Do I want to go through that again? No. But we are a strong group, seven seniors. I am just so proud of them.”
Westwood crept back into it in the second quarter and cut the lead to 28-23. Then in the third quarter, the Redhawks took over and outscored the Red Raiders, 20-6, to lead 48-39.
Thomas and Crews combined for 13 of the 20 points in the third quarter as the two all-state selections proved they are among the top backcourts in the state.
“That is really like my brother,” Thomas said of Crews. “I told him at the start of the season we had to go get us one. Me and him have been in the gym every single day. We just lived in the gym.”
Thomas finished with 26 points despite being bothered by cramping and was sidelined late in the third quarter before checking back in with 6:52 left. Crews added 23 points before fouling out with 2:19 left. But by that time, Westwood was up 58-46 after it withstood a brief Red Raider rally.
“We worked so hard for this, you can’t explain it,” Crews said. “We always had that chip on our shoulder. People doubted us. But we stayed poised and came out with the win.”
Greenville (23-7) was trying to repeat as state champions in coach Yerrick Stoneman’s first season. Stoneman, the former Ridge View coach, took over the Red Raiders program after Mike Anderson stepped down to become the school’s athletic director.
Stoneman was 3-0 in championship games before suffering his first loss against the Redhawks.
Caden Coleman led Greenville with 16 and Tucker School had 13.
Westwood: D’Marcus Thomas 26, Jayden Crews 23, McLeod 8, Veal 7, Cockfield 3
Greenville: Caden Coleman 16, Tucker Scholl 13, Shell 7, McCoy 6, Farrow 5, Griffin 5, Dendy 2, Hyde 1
This story was originally published March 5, 2026 at 11:50 PM.
