by High School Sports coverage at Kee On Sports is brought to you by these fine sponsors – https://keeonsports.com/sponsors/
LYNDHURST, Ohio— Adversity is no stranger for Chet Mason and his young core at Brush High School. Sunday afternoon, playing in the first game of the third annual Chet Mason Invitational, his team had three players go down due to injury and never backed down.
In the end, the Arcs were able to pull away with a 49-47 win and that itself was a sign of growth for Mason’s team.
“I just told our guys good tournament teams go through adversity throughout the regular season and they find a way to get it done,” he said. “And that’s what they just did, so that was a sign of growth to me.”
Tyler Williams went down early in the second quarter and never returned back to the game after suffering a right hand injury. The Arcs were able to build an early nine-point lead in the first quarter until Cleveland Central Catholic sophomore guard Lonnelle Everett-Wilson ended the final minute on a 6-0 run himself to pull within three.
Elmore James tallied nine points in the second quarter to pace the Arcs but the Ironmen were never out of reach. To end the first half, Savonte Quarles finished a put-back opportunity that tied the game at 31 apiece.
James added eight more points in the third quarter before leaving the game with what Mason explained was an ankle injury, something he’s been battling through all season. That’s when junior forward Antwone Woolfolk had to help lead a banged up team down the stretch, leaning more on younger players to help maintain an Arc lead.
“We all knew we had to step up because we’ve all been battling injuries throughout the whole season,” Woolfolk said. “We did it together as a team.”
Everett-Wilson was able to knock down a buzzer beater to put the Ironmen within two heading into the fourth quarter. Only 10 combined points were scored in the fourth quarter, but none were bigger than the baseline floater from Julius Jofferion. His bucket was able to put the Arcs up 49-45 with just over two minutes left in the fourth quarter and Cleveland Central Catholic wasn’t able to capitalize on the offensive end.
That has come with a bit of inexperience for Jordan Duke and his team. After graduating 11 seniors last year and not being able to start practice until earlier this month, he’s still trying to figure things out each game with his young guys.
“We’re still young and we’re still inexperienced,” Duke said. “We started practice Jan. 11 and we haven’t really had a chance to pound in some fundamentals and pound in a system of what we want to do this year so we’re kind of doing things on the fly and we’re adapting.”
For the Arcs, James finished with a game-high 23 points. Woolfolk and Andrew Jones rounded out the scoring with seven and six points, respectively. Seven different players scored for the Arcs during the win.
For the Ironmen, Everett-Wilson finished with a team-high 14 points followed with 11 from Raekwon Easter. Duke was impressed with the way Everett-Wilson was able to create open shots and shoot the deep ball as a sophomore. He’ll look to play a critical part for an Ironmen team that is learning after each game.
“He’s a sophomore that wants to play and wants to get out there and do some good things,” Duke said about Everett-Wilson. “He’s a fearless kid who’s ready to go out there and put his name on the map.”
Mason and his team aren’t sure about the status of Williams and James moving forward, but knows there’s no quit in his team. His guys will just have to continue to adapt like they’ve been doing throughout the year.
“My guys got to adapt…I tell them when adversity strikes, your true character comes out and what I’ve seen from them is a very tough group.”
