by EUCLID, Ohio- After trailing most of the second and third quarters, Brush used a zone defense to climb back, eventually ending the game on a 15-2 run to defeat Cleveland Heights 49-44 Thursday night. The win advances the Arcs to the Division I Euclid District final Saturday night against top-seeded Mentor.
“We just picked up our intensity,” sophomore guard Elmore James said. “We know defense is what we do and we knew once we picked our defense up, everything will flow like last game.”
Back in January, these two teams met as part of the Play By Play Classic and it was Cleveland Heights that walked out with a 69-64 win. However, Thursday night was a different result.
With just under four minutes left in the game, Brush senior and Pittsburgh commit John Hugley knocked down a 3-pointer that tied the game at 40. From there, Cleveland Heights scored just four points, largely because of the challenges the team faced trying to break the zone defense from the Arcs.
For Brush, James finished the night with a team-high 18 points. Hugley had 16 points– 14 in the second half– and a game-high 15 rebounds to go along with it.
For Cleveland Heights, Garvin Clarke ended the night with a team-high 15 points. Junior forward Davon Smith-Johnson contributed with seven points to go along with Manny Hill and Dushawn Hill rounding out the scoring with six points each. Junior guard EJ Farmer scored just one point Thursday night, largely as a result of James’ strong perimeter defense.
“We got the best defensive player on the ball in the state,” Brush head coach Chet Mason said. “He’s unreal. He’s an animal. He defends like his life depends on it and that’s the luxury of having him.”
Cleveland Heights was able to maintain a steady lead throughout the first half. They built up a lead as much as seven points a couple of times and took a 27-20 lead heading into halftime.
From there, both teams struggled to put points on the board. Brush was able to get a slight advantage, outscoring the Tigers 10-7 in the third quarter to head into the final eight minutes of the game trailing 34-30.
That’s when the Arcs focused on zone defense, something that Cleveland Heights was not prepared for and took them out of rhythm in the final quarter.
“They turned up their defense and went zone. We got into a little bit of a rush instead of being patient and they were dictating the pace of how they wanted us to play,” head coach J.R. Bremer said.
In fact, Brush outscored Cleveland Heights 19-10 in the fourth quarter behind a number of key plays. From Marlon Barnes taking a charge after Hugley tied the game at 40 apiece, to James’ layup that eventually gave the Arcs the lead that they never lost, it was a team effort that directed Brush to the district semifinal win in front of a full capacity crowd.
“I was happy they got back into the tournament, I wanted to take the hard way,” Hugley said. “We hit big shots, stuck together and didn’t give up on each other.”
