Oak Glen pulls away from Brooke, 71-56
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WELLSBURG -- The Oak Glen boys basketball team is at its best when it plays team basketball.
The Golden Bears did that most of night, but a lull in the second quarter enabled Brooke to battle its way back into the game. The Golden Bears regrouped at halftime and pulled away for a 71-56 victory against the Bruins Tuesday night inside the Brooke Wellness Center to sweep the season series.
"We jumped on them early," Oak Glen (10-3) head coach Jerry Everly said. "We were up 23-3, and then they hit a 3 to make it 23-6. When you jump on a team early like that, it is natural for guys to want to get theirs. Guys start thinking about themselves. I think we lost focus in the second quarter. These are high school kids. It is my job to bring the guys back together. We responded in the third quarter. We were able to get back up on them. We played better defense in the third quarter."
After leading 23-3 in the first quarter, the Golden Bears saw their lead dwindle down to just six points, 34-28, at halftime.
"If we would have made more shots, we would have been up in the first half," Brooke (0-13) first-year head coach Mel Coleman said. "In the second half, our defense is not where we need it to be in our man-to-man. We also did a poor job boxing out. Rebounding hurt us. We also did not shoot enough free throws. We only shot eight free throws. That's not too many.
"We got good shots, but we just didn't make them. We did not make enough shots. That was the problem."
Oak Glen outscored Brooke, 37-28, in the second half. The victors led by as many as 17 in the fourth.
Four players scored in double digits to lead the way for Oak Glen. Ethan Travis tallied a game-high 17 points, Sean Smith and Jarrett Gittings each collected 16, and Zach Taylor delivered 10.
"Our offense is not built around one person," Everly said. "We had four players score in double digits. That is a good thing. The second quarter was a struggle for us. We just lost focus."
Brooke had three players score in double figures. Gage Yost and Logan Williams each tallied a team-high 14 points, while Alex Lilly delivered 10.
Taylor got off to a good start for the Golden Bears, as he scored eight of his 10 points in Oak Glen's big first quarter, while Gittings tallied six.
The visitors led 32-15 roughly midway through the second quarter before the hosts went on a big run to close out the half. Brooke outscored Oak Glen, 13-2, to end the half and pull within six points at the break. Lilly tallied eight points in the quarter, while Williams scored five.
Travis scored six points in the third, as Oak Glen outscored Brooke, 14-11, in the quarter to take a 48-39 advantage into the fourth.
"They played hard," Everly said. "No. 30 (Yost) shot the ball well for them, and No. 3 (Williams) did a good job coming off of the bench. Brooke did a good job on the inside. They hustled."
The Golden Bears defeated the Bruins, 73-54, Dec. 11 at Oak Glen.
"We executed better offensively tonight, but we just could not score," Coleman said. "We should have scored more points. We knew we could get good shots, but we just didn't make them.
"They really didn't do anything different. They are a good ballclub. They have plenty of depth. That helps. We are short on depth. They have more bodies, and they had more energy."
Brooke is scheduled to play tonight at home against Indian Creek.
Oak Glen is scheduled to play Saturday at home against North Marion. The game has been changed to an afternoon game, with a JV start time of 1 p.m.
GAME NOTES
¯ Oak Glen won the JV game, 50-45.
Oak Glen 71, Brooke 56
Oak Glen 23-11-14-23 -- 71
Brooke 6-22-11-17 -- 56
OAK GLEN (10-3): Wiley 2 0-0 4; Perez 0 3-4 3; Smith 6 3-5 16; Aloria 0 0-0 0; Patterson 1 3-4 5; Gittings 6 2-2 16; Travis 6 4-4 17; Clark 0 0-0 0; Taylor 4 1-2 10; Staub 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 25, 16-22: 71.
BROOKE (0-13): Brown 0 0-0 0; Buchmelter 1 0-0 3; Rasz 3 0-0 8; Lily 4 1-4 10; Silver 0 0-0 0; Yost 6 0-0 14; Coursin 1 1-1 3; Willis 2 0-0 4; Williams 5 3-3 14. TOTALS: 22, 5-8 56.
3-POINT GOALS: Oak Glen 5 (Gittings 2, Smith, Travis, Taylor); Brooke 7 (Rasz 2, Yost 2, Buchmelter, Lilly; Williams).