BRUNSWICK — The beach bum-themed Brunswick student section poured into the locker room on Cloud 9, ready to get rowdy with its boys basketball players Tuesday night after one of the biggest regular-season wins in recent memory.
Brunswick’s Michael Quiring celebrates after hitting a three point shot against Medina during the first quarter. (RON SCHWANE / GAZETTE)
The mosh pit didn’t take long to commence, and everyone who crammed in chanted the new sole leader of the Greater Cleveland Conference’s name.
“B (what), R-U (what), N-S (what), W-I-C-K” … “B (what), R-U (what), N-S (what), W-I-C-K.”
Coach Joe Mackey’s Blue Devils are knocking on history’s door.
Riding a sizzling start, a one-man-show third quarter from Kevin Simmons and just enough clutch free throws in the final two minutes, Brunswick held off archrival Medina 55-51 in front of a standing-room-only crown in the East Gym.
Coupled with Strongsville upsetting Elyria 46-45, the Blue Devils (16-4, 10-2) are alone atop the league standings. They can clinch a share of their first championship since 1966 with a win at the Mustangs (11-9, 6-6) on Friday or at home against Shaker Heights (8-11, 5-7) next week.
“Oh, jeez, (my emotions) are out the roof because you know we haven’t had a conference title in a long time,” point guard Michael Quiring said. “I love every one of these guys and coaches. We’re a tight-knit group, and it’s just special. It’s still not over, but we need to win the last two.”
Brunswick made five 3-pointers spread among four players in the opening 4:32 to take a 17-4 lead, ultimately leading wire to wire.
Simmons (5 assists) then scored 10 of his 14 points in the third quarter, mostly on ankle-breaking drives to the basket with 7-foot-1 Bees center Jon Teske (22 points, 10 rebounds) resting on the bench, but also with a 3-pointer atop the arc as time expired to put the Blue Devils up 43-34.
Medina (14-6, 9-3) kept battling behind Teske (9 points over the last 3:15) and small forward Luke Schaefer (11 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists), but never took the lead despite Brunswick missing the front end of three one-and-ones and Teske converting a three-point play that made the score 49-47 with 39.3 seconds left.
Luckily for Brunswick, Austin Mick, who missed one of those one-and-ones on his first career free throw attempt, drilled two pressure-packed freebies with 33.1 seconds to go.
Medina then committed a turnover, allowing Quiring (team highs of 15 points, 5 rebounds) and 90 percent foul shooter Zach Cebula to make 4-of-4 free throws to clinch the game.
“We hit some shots early and we almost blew it at the end, but we executed everything the coaches put in throughout the week in practice, especially against their matchup zone,” Quiring said. “I think we just paid attention, and that carried over into the game.”
The Blue Devils milked most of the fourth quarter and still came dangerously close to an epic collapse after taking a 45-34 lead when Simmons found center Aaron Badowski (14 points, 10 in first half) all alone for a wide-open layup against a trapping defense.
Brunswick survived because a brilliant, focused start allowed wiggle room.
Beginning with Quiring, ending with Zak Zografos and featuring other threes from Kyle Goessler and Badowski, the Blue Devils moved the ball crisply and got open looks against a stunned Medina defense. Brunswick’s three 3-point attempts in the first 91 seconds were on the money, leading to a quick timeout from Bees coach Hassinger.
Forced to stick with man defense, Medina settled down and clawed back by scoring 20 of its 26 first-half points from within 12 feet. The only problem was the Bees waited until they were behind 13 to pound the ball inside, and their guards failed to get Teske touches in what ended up being a critical third quarter.
“We played so well in our matchup zone the first game we played them (a 61-56 win on Jan. 5), and we had a couple mix-ups and gave them some early threes,” Hassinger said. “Then I thought we did a nice job battling back, but we went through that one stretch when I think (Teske) only had two touches in the third quarter. We ran all these different looks to get him touches, and we kind of panicked.”
Simmons was a reason for that sense of urgency. Brunswick led only 30-26 at halftime and Simmons was 1-for-5 shooting with four assists, but he rose to the occasion in the biggest game of his career.
The electric 6-0 left-hander got hot in a hurry, scoring on a Euro-step while getting fouled and adding another inside bucket off an inbounds play. Simmons then drilled two 3-pointers, the latter via a pass from Zografos, after Teske checked back in and protected the paint.
Simmons’ brilliance pushed the Blue Devils’ advantage to nine and put them in the driver’s seat entering the fourth quarter.
“It was great. Coach Mackey believed in me and gave me a lot of confidence,” Simmons said. “I just fed off that and starting making shots.”
Brunswick is now 64 minutes from history, barring overtime. The Blue Devils know there are no cupcake nights in the GCC, especially since experienced Strongsville in particular has won four in a row.
They’re fired up and ready for the challenge.
“We feel great,” Badowski said. “We’re going to get this one Friday, and then we’ve got to come back Tuesday, and we’ll get that one, too.
“We’re confident. We’re not trying to get 1-for-2, we’re not trying to go 0-2 and hope someone else loses. We’re trying to win the first one.”
Notes
- Medina point guard Ben Geschke got a cut on his face late in the third quarter, causing blood to get on his No. 1 jersey. The junior switched to No. 52 during a timeout.
- Alex Wyatt had 14 points as Brunswick’s junior varsity won 47-38. Sam McKee had 20 points for Medina.
- The Blue Devils rallied to win the freshman game 42-37 in overtime behind 13 points from Max Ferrell. Ryan Soworowski scored 16 for the Bees.
Brunswick 55, Medina 51
MEDINA 9 17 8 17 — 51
BRUNSWICK 17 13 13 12 — 55
Medina — Luke Schaefer 5-1-11, Jimmy Clark 0-0-0, Jon Teske 9-4-22, Jackson Sartain 2-0-6, Ben Geschke 2-0-5, Colin Szumski 1-1-3, Jimmy Daw 2-0-4, Sam McKee 0-0-0. TOTALS: 21-6-51.
Brunswick — Kyle Goessler 1-0-3, Zach Cebula 0-4-4, Aaron Badowski 5-1-14, Kevin Simmons 5-2-14, Michael Quiring 5-2-15, Zak Zografos 1-0-3, Austin Mick 0-2-2. TOTALS: 17-11-55.
3-point goals — Sartain 2, Geschke, Badowski 3, Quiring 3, Simmons 2, Zografos, Goessler. Rebounds — Medina 23 (Teske 10), Brunswick 21 (Quiring 5). Assists — Medina 16 (Szumski 5), Brunswick 11 (Simmons 5). Records — Medina (14-6, 9-3), Brunswick (16-4, 10-2). Junior varsity — Brunswick 47, Medina 38.