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STRONGSVILLE, Ohio– Emotion, passion, toughness and a sold-out crowd are what ultimately helped turn the home-court advantage in favor of Strongsville Tuesday night as they defeated the Brunswick Blue Devils 72-39, setting the tone from the opening whistle.
“Our kids fought really hard,” coach Kevin Sapara said with a smile on his face. “We played with emotion, played with passion…the guys executed the game plan and played really hard and I’m just happy for them.”
The game couldn’t have started any better for the Mustangs Tuesday night. Quinn Barnett and Trey Drexler didn’t hit a 3-pointer for the Blue Devils throughout the first half, something that couldn’t help kickstart a momentum swing for their team early on.
In fact, the Blue Devils didn’t hit one 3-pointer in the first half. It was 16 minutes of frustration for head coach Joe Mackey and the Blue Devils.
As for the Mustangs, junior Josh Byers helped lead his team in scoring throughout an impressive first half for his team as they held the Blue Devils to just one bucket in the entire first quarter.
The Mustangs held a 10-2 advantage after the first quarter and it only grew from there. Byers often found himself driving and fighting through contact to finish near the rim as the Blue Devils had troubles slowing him down. He scored 11 of his team’s 24 points in the first half as the Mustangs headed into halftime with a 24-8 lead.
Holding one of the best shooting teams in the area to just eight points in the first 16 minutes of the game was something coach Kevin Sapara was impressed with and it started with limiting them offensively to just one shot attempt.
“We tried to not give them open shots, they’re a really good shooting team,” Sapara said. “We wanted to make it hard on them, try to run out on them across the 3-point line and try to limit them to one shot and we did that early.”
The Blue Devils were able to finally get going offensively to start the second half, getting to the rim more often and finally knocking down their first 3-pointer of the night. They even trimmed the Mustang lead to just 13 points with under three minutes remaining in the third quarter but the Mustangs would respond and end the final two and a half minuted on a 15-7 run to take a 21-point lead following three quarters of plays.
Trey Drexler scored 13 of his team-high 17 points in the third quarter, but that wasn’t enough as Josh Byers would score 12 points in the third quarter to help keep his team afloat.
Sapara had high praise for Josh as he ended the night with a game-high 30 points to pace his team.
“He’s a big-game player,” Sapara said. “He never flinched…He was aggressive and did a really good job.”
As far as the junior saw it, he credited his teammates early on.
“It was really just my teammates setting me up,” he said. “I got a lot of open shots…I think our defensive intensity really helped know and set the tone for the game and how the rest of the game was going to go.”
The Blue Devils scored 31 points in the second half compared to just 8 in the first half. Quinn Barnett finished with just six points and Tommy Morgan had five points as the Blue Devils were held to under 40 points for the first time since the 2020 season.
“It says a lot (about our defense),” Byers said. “It says it’s paying off and that we’re working really hard, boxing out and getting a lot of rebounds.”
For the Mustangs, Bryaden Wypasek finished with 12 points along with nine points from Shane McIntyre at the end of the game.
The confidence is sky-high within the Mustang locker room and they know they can continue to build momentum off a win like this.
“I like our tournament draw and I like our chances to go far.” Josh Byers said with a smile on his face.
