by Jeremy Trantham, Times-News
Brevard’s boys basketball team knows it can score from the outside. Thursday at West Henderson was no exception as point guard Trell Baker poured in a game-high 27 points.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Brevard fights hard for WAC wins over West
But the difference in the Blue Devils’ 71-67 Western Athletic Conference win was the play inside. Brock Frisbee scored 10 of his 12 points in the fourth quarter while Jake Osteen made a key block and two free throws in the closing seconds to secure the victory.
Brevard, which improves to 8-11 on the year and 3-4 in the WAC is making a late-season playoff push. The Devils sit at fourth place in the league, just one game behind the Falcons (9-10, 4-3) and two behind Pisgah (5-2 WAC), which they will play on Friday.
“It puts us in a position where we can crawl up to second or third in our league, which is big in terms of the playoffs,” said Brevard coach Tim Trantham. “It was a big win for the kids.”
The Devils battled back from a 11-point second-half deficit behind Baker, Osteen and Frisbee. Osteen scored six unanswered points before Baker canned a deep 3-pointer to pull Brevard within five entering the fourth quarter.
Then Frisbee took over, scoring 10 straight points early in the fourth before fouling out with 4:45 to play. The 6-5 junior even hit a 3-pointer while being fouled for a four-point to play. His shot gave the Blue Devils a 60-59 lead, their first since the second quarter, which they never relinquished.
“I didn’t mind it too much because it was in the flow while we were making a little run,” Trantham said of the shot. “It was a big basket.”
Brevard had 11 rebounds in the fourth to seven for West.
“They dominated us,” said West coach Rob Bliss. “For whatever reason we’ve gone two games in a row where we just can’t finish in the lane.”
With West trailing 69-67 in the closing second Colby Thelen, who scored a team-high 15 points for West, drove into the lane. Osteen was waiting with a clean block. He then hit two free throws to seal the victory.
Kagan Williams added 11 points for the Falcons while Adam Troutman had nine points and 10 rebounds in a game originally schedule for Wednesday.
“It was one of those games where we were fortunate to have the last run,” Trantham said. “I think either played extremely well. I think a lot of that had to do with, you get geared up to play (on Wednesday), can’t play and have to back here to play the next day.”
West’s second straight conference loss leaves the Falcons needing help, likely from Brevard, to get back to second in the WAC.
“They just out-executed us,” he Bliss said. “I’m really grasping right now to be honest. I’m fearful that we’ve met our expectations. That’s taking nothing away from Brevard. Tim does a great job and he’s really got his kids playing well down the stretch.”
Brevard’s girls held a 43-35 lead at the end of the third quarter. That was on Wednesday evening before snow halted play.
On Thursday, the Lady Devils had to wait an extra four minutes of game-time to secure a 60-57 overtime win.
West’s Ashley Rogers hit a jump shot as time expired in regulation to tie the score at 53. But foul trouble caught up with the Lady Falcons as three players fouled out in overtime.
“It’s kind of expected that my young baby Devils were going to allow Rogers to shoot that last shot,” said Brevard coach Jenny Crew. “I am extremely proud. It seemed like they composed themselves. They grew up a little big in overtime.”
Emily Hollingsworth hit two free throws with 57 seconds remaining in overtime to give Brevard (3-16, 2-5) the lead for good at 59-57. After Courtney Lance, who scored 18 points, gave the Lady Devils a three-point lead with a foul shot, Shonese Jones stole West’s inbounds pass to prevent the Lady Falcons from launching another game-tying shot.
Jones, who hit 5-of-6 from the foul line in the fourth quarter, scored a game-high 21 points in the rare two-day game. Lance had eight rebounds and six steals.
“I’ve been playing since the first grade through four years of college,” Crew said. “I’ve been coaching for 13 years and never in my life have I had to do this before. We started off the way I thought we would — slow and little stiff.”
Rogers scored seven of her team-high 19 points in the fourth quarter to help West force overtime. She also had eight rebounds and six assists.
Summer Kremer added 14 points and six rebounds for West (5-14, 3-4 WAC) while Erica Cantrell added 11 points.
Brevard will travel to Pisgah on Friday while West will go to East Henderson.
Note: West Henderson graduate Connie Creasman earned a varsity letter playing for Kay Yow at N.C. State in 1980. She earned another letter in 1982 as a manager. West and Brevard had a ‘Pink Out’ for the girls’ game to support breast cancer research.
SUMMARIES
BOYS
BREVARD (71) — McNeil, Trell Baker 27, Brock Frisbee 12, Zandecki 2, Griffin 5, Roberts 4, Smith 7, Erwin 1, Babin 2, Jake Osteen 11.
WEST (67) — Embler, Colby Thelen 15, Young 9, Roberts 8, Kagan Williams 11, Shaw, Reeves 2, Troutman 9, Thomas 7, Hyatt 4, VanWingerden 2.
Halftime: West, 39-34.
GIRLS
BREVARD (60) — Hollingsworth 6, K. Lance 3, Akridge, Redmond 6, Dierolf 6, Courtney Lance 18, Shonese Jones 21, Landreth, Owen 6.
WEST (57) — Summer Kremer 14, Erica Cantrell 11, Burton 4, Turlington, Bishop 8, Stewart 2, Ashley Rogers 19, Dinardo.
End of third quarter: Brevard, 43-35.
End of regulation: 53-53.
Posted by Paula Roberts at 7:08 AM
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