by BRUNSWICK, Ohio– Brunswick used a series of scoring runs Friday night to open up the game throughout the night, something Mentor had no answer for which resulted in an 85-65 win.
The Cardinals struggled to contain the high-octane Blue Devil offense throughout the first half. Despite the Blue Devils missing their first couple of outside shots early in the game, it didn’t take long for them to flip the switch. Coach Bob Krizancic called a timeout just 1:30 into the game, which seemed to benefit the Blue Devils.
After that, Aiden Shaker and Trey Drexler couldn’t be stopped. Shaker-the 6-foot-6 senior forward scored nine of his team’s first 11 points of the quarter, which helped propel the Blue Devils to a 22-11 lead after the first quarter.
Drexler–the 6-foot junior point guard–started knocking down open 3-pointers and being the true floor general he is to open the game up closing out the first half. His team led by 20 or more points for most of the second quarter and he even closed out the first half scoring a team-high 18 points along with 17 from Shaker where the Blue Devils led 50-29 at the break.
“They’re both tremendous players and played tremendous halves for us,” Blue Devil coach Joe Mackey said about Drexler and Shaker.
The second half was a game of runs for the Cardinals, starting with freshman point guard Jack Kennedy. A 21-point halftime lead swiftly dropped to 10 points with 1:23 left to play in the third quarter. A 20-9 Cardinal run had Mackey calling a couple of timeouts to start the second half. He thought his team got a little too comfortable with a big lead after the first two quarters.
“They score a ton of points, they do what they do and they won’t go down without a fight,” Mackey said about the Cardinals. “We made some shots to start the quarter and got a little too complacent there with a 21-point lead at halftime.”
However, that was as close as the Cardinals would get to a second-half comeback. Ending the quarter on a swift 5-0 run, the Blue Devils had their momentum back heading into the fourth quarter.
“We responded to end the third quarter,” said Mackey. “Just a really good effort and a really good job by our kids.”
They followed that up with a 13-2 run in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter, building up a lead that was too much to overcome for the Cardinals. Players like Matt Morgan and Ethan Jean contributed mightily both offensively and defensively to provide a spark for their team.
It was a needed spark to keep Mackey’s team moving in the right direction. They are 8-3 through the first 11 games of the season.
“We’ve been in every game we’ve played and I don’t think we’re playing great right now,” said Mackey.
For the game, Shaker led the way with 25 points followed by 24 points from Drexler. For the Cardinals, Kennedy led the way with a team-high 21 points during the loss.
“I kind of like where we are at right now (as a team),” Mackey continued. “I think our best basketball is ahead of us here in the second half of the season.”
