Brashear Tigers Move On With District Win Over Green City
Brashear Tigers Move On With District Win Over Green City
By David Sharp
Second seeded Brashear (17-8) bolted to a 19-4 lead and never looked back in a 58-26 District 6 boys win at Linn County.
The Tigers played really well in the first half. Brashear played together on both ends of the floor. The Tigers pitched a defensive shutout in the second quarter. The 14-0 run put Brashear up 33-5 at intermission.
Nine of the ten Tigers dressed for the contest scored. Brashear was 6-8 at the free throw line on the night. Green City (6-20) went 11-18 at the charity stripe. Brashear scored 23 team field goals and allowed only six.
Kiley Watson gave the Tigers a 42-12 lead with 12 seconds remaining in the third quarter. Jesse Estrada kept the clock from running by the Missouri Mercy Rule with a three ball 20 seconds into the fourth quarter. Estrada tied for game scoring honors leading the Gophers with 11 points.
Seniors Jesse Estrada, Jake Rinker and Jake Sutton played their final basketball game for Green City. “We struggled all year with our offense. We can’t seem to put the ball in the hole or make good passes,” said Green City coach Wade Billington. “In the second half we set screens and had an offense running some of the time. It’s too bad we couldn’t put out that kind of effort four quarters.”
Anthony Ambrosia fed senior David Anderson for a 56-26 Tiger lead with a minute to play in the game.
Brashear pulled down 27 rebounds, led by Jacob Shipman with six boards. Matt Thomas led the Tigers with four of their 14 team steals. Brashear held a 27-17 turnover advantage according to unofficial stats. The Tigers blocked six shots and dished out five assists.
Brashear had good defensive balance with four players recording two or more steals. The Tigers had effective scoring balance as well.
Kale Watson tied for high point honors with 11 Tiger points. Kiley Watson, Jacob Shipman, and Ryan Ferdig scored ten Brashear points each. Trae Treasure put in eight points.
Matt Thomas scored three points. Anthony Ambrosia, David Anderson, and Jacob Owen added two Tiger points each. Brashear earned the right to challenge third seeded Macon County for the right to advance to the District championship game on February 29 at 6:30PM.
“I thought we did a good job of converting turnovers into points in the middle of the game,” said Brashear coach Sara Williams. “We rotated everybody into the game. We did a good job on the boards. We limited them to one shot. I thought we did a good job of rebounding and attacking the basket.”
“We just have to play our game, and not play to the level of our competition,” said Williams. “We had a disappointing loss to Macon County last night. We would like another shot at it to see what we can do.”
Macon County cracked off a 14-3 second half run and beat Brashear by a 57-52 final score in the final game of the regular and conference season. Macon County earned second place in the conference behind undefeated champion LaPlata. Brashear finished third in the 2008 Tri-County boys standings with a 6-2 conference mark.
