Brookville boys complete season sweep in Bedford

 

Prep Basketball stats 

BEDFORD — Three of the Seminole District’s best big men met Wednesday night in a game that would break a stalemate for first place in the regular-season standings.

Brookville’s two 6-foot-7 forwards, Logan Thomas and Corby Weiss, had already led the Bees to one victory over 6-6 Carlton Payne and Liberty. Again led by Thomas and Weiss, Brookville pulled off a season sweep of the Minutemen, winning in dominating fashion in Bedford, 62-49.

“To come into this place and respond the way we did, I’m real proud,” Bees coach Chris Young said.

Brookville (10-3, 7-1 Seminole) handled a deafening home-court Liberty advantage well, despite a slow start offensively. Chris Harmon gave the Minutemen (13-4, 6-2) an early advantage with a 3-pointer from the right wing. Harmon was fouled on the play but was unable to convert a rare four-point opportunity.

A Harmon steal on the Bees’ next possession almost put Liberty up 5-0. However, Harmon opted to attempt a dunk on the breakaway which caromed off the rim.

Two possessions later, Jared King opened Brookville’s scoring with a jumper from the left wing. A King 3-pointer moments later put the Bees up 6-5, a lead they would never relinquish. King poured in 13 points for an offense that Young says is finally playing up to its potential after early-season injuries and a rough transition from the football season.

“As a team, we’re finally healthy,” Young said. “We’re actually able to suit up 12 players for the last couple games and we haven’t been able to do that all year. We’ve finally had about two weeks of just being able to suit guys up and get rotations where they should be.”

Weiss and Thomas were a big part of the offense, combining for 33 points and 23 rebounds. They were also effective in limiting Payne underneath. Payne finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds, but Young felt they kept him off of the offensive glass, where he often does most of his damage.

“One of the main goals coming into halftime was that we had to keep (Payne) off the boards,” Young said. “The big guys did a much better job in the second half.”

Weiss, who racked up 11 points, 11 rebounds and blocked two shots, said the Bees knew at the beginning of the season that the road to a district championship would go through Liberty.

“At the beginning of the season, we said we wanted to be No. 1 in the district and the No. 1 seed in the region … now that we’ve conquered Liberty,” Weiss said. “At our place it was a statement game and here it was even bigger because we had one loss and they had one loss.”

Brookville committed only nine turnovers and kept its composure despite a hotly contested fourth quarter in which Harmon received a technical foul.

“Everybody kept their cool,” Weiss said. “Nobody erupted or tried to fight back and just walked away.”

King split his two free-throws and Thomas nailed a pair on the ensuing possession to give the Bees a 53-39 lead with 4:38 remaining.

Despite the home-court advantage, the Minutemen committed 14 turnovers and shot just 10 of 22 from the line, a number only slightly better than the Bees’ 9-for-21 mark.

“They shot bad too, but they made free-throws when they needed too,” Liberty coach Jeff Monroe said. “They made them in key times and we missed some in key times.”

Besides limiting Payne, the Bees also held Liberty’s pair of talented guards, Harmon and Anthony Reynolds, to 20 combined points. Monroe believed coming in that his perimeter speed would be an advantage.

“They just played great team defense,” Monroe said. “They stopped us from penetrating and made us shoot from outside. Bottom line, you still got to play the game. Hats off to them. They made plays tonight and they deserved to win.”