Jones nets 23, Big Red pulls away from Brooke
STEUBENVILLE -- Steubenville did not have much time to dwell on its loss Friday night with another game on the schedule less than 16 hours later.
Mike Haney's club got up early, then used a big third quarter to put Brooke away for a 78-61 bounce-back victory Saturday afternoon inside the Crimson Center.
Big Red (6-3) saw a double-digit lead early in the second quarter trimmed to just three points at halftime. The Bruins got to within one at 34-33, with the first basket of the second half thanks to a Cole Sperlazza bucket. After that, it was never that close again.
Calvin Bickerstaff, who finished with 16 points, netted back-to-back baskets to make it a five-point lead. Micah Krause drained a 3-pointer a few moments later to make it a 10-point lead. By the end of the third quarter, it was a 15-point Steubenville advantage.
"We always talk about how important it is coming out of halftime," Haney said. "That first three minutes of the second half can go either way. We put four different guys in there to go with a different lineup because we needed some intensity, energy and enthusiasm. They were able to stretch the lead.
"Calvin is a good guy in the post, uses his body well and made some nice buckets for us."
Brooke didn't go away, getting the lead down to eight points a couple of times, but Steubenville's foul shooting (14 of 21 in the fourth quarter) and Brooke's turnovers kept it from getting any closer.
"Our foul shooting was atrocious in the first half. It got better in the second half," Haney said. "It was much, much better in the fourth quarter."
Trillyun Jones, who led the Big Red attack with a game-high 23 points, netted 10 of them in the final eight minutes. Cade Kernahan and Quinn McCoy each finished with eight points. Nasari Jackson had seven points.
"We turned the ball over more times than we should have," Brooke head coach Mel Coleman said. "Turnovers and rebounding will cost you games, along with fouls. In that span (in the third quarter), we did all of the above. There is your difference in the game being close (and getting double digits) in that span.
"When you come out of the locker room, you have to stay on par. You get in a deficit like that, it's hard to catch up."
For the Bruins, Alex Isinghood had 22 points to lead the way. Sperlazza netted 14 points, while Dalton Anderson and Alex Lilly each added seven.
"Brooke kept playing hard, and they got after it," Haney said. "Isinghood and Sperlazza made some big shots. Sometimes they hit open shots, and sometimes we had good hands in their face and they still made their shots."
HALFWAY THERE
With the holidays in the rear-view mirror and now with nine games under their belt, Haney still sees a lot of things his teams needs to work on as the second half of the season is just around the corner.
"We just have to correct the mistakes we are making," Haney said. "We have to get better at the free throw line. We can't have the silly turnovers, the walks. It's the stretch run, we're almost to the halfway point, we're past Christmas and going back to school Monday. Before you know it, it will be February and tournament time, so we have to get ready."
GAME NOTE
Steubenville made it a sweep with a 63-29 win in the jayvee game.
UP NEXT
Brooke: Travels to St. Clairsville on Tuesday.
Steubenville: Hosts Wheeling Park on Tuesday.
(Grimm can be reached at agrimm@heraldstaronline.com)
Steubenville 78, Brooke 61
Brooke 10-21-9-21 - 61
Steubenville 16-18-21-23 - 78
BROOKE: Anderson 2 2-3 7; Brown 5 0-0 7; Knox 0 2-2 2; Isinghood 9 1-3 22; Sperlazza 5 2-7 14; Lilly 2 3-4 7; Coursin 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 24 10-19 61.
STEUBENVILLE (6-3): Kernahan 3 2-5 8; Jones 9 3-6 23; Sawyer 2 2-2 6; Gresko 1 1-2 3; Bickerstaff 5 6-11 16; Krause 1 2-4 5; Wickham 1 0-0 2; Rook 0 0-2 0; Jackson 3 1-2 7; McCoy 3 2-4 8. TOTALS: 28 19-38 78.
3-POINT GOALS: Brooke 9 (Brown 3, Isinghood 3, Lilly 2, Anderson); Steubenville 3 (Jones 2, Krause).