COPLEY TWP. — Cancer survivor Josh Herron grabbed the final rebound and dribbled toward center court as the final seconds ticked away at the Copley Division I District championship.
The senior then threw the ball so high into the air it reached the rafters as the buzzer sounded, igniting a party 17 years in the making for Brunswick’s boys basketball team.
Brunswick’s Aaron Badowski shoots a three point shot over Medina’s Jon Teske during the second quarter. (RON SCHWANE / GAZETTE)
Getting a virtuoso performance from center Aaron Badowski and going on a breathtaking run in the middle quarters, the Blue Devils added another slice of history to their storybook season with a 51-39 victory over archrival Medina in front of a passionate sellout crowd.
Top-seeded Brunswick (21-4) won a league title for the first time since 1966 in the regular season. On Saturday, it won a district title for the first time since 1999 and tied the 1979-80 team for the most wins in school history.
Next stop: The University of Akron Regional to battle Canton McKinley (21-5) on Thursday night.
“I don’t have the words to describe it,” Badowski said. “To win that game, I don’t know, I can’t even talk about it.
“We were able to get the conference, which we haven’t done in 50 years, and to get this one against our rivals, it’s insane.”
The Blue Devils trailed 17-7 before a Kevin Simmons 3-pointer jump-started a 25-5 run that ended with eight points in 22 seconds midway through the third quarter. Zach Cebula’s first 3-pointer of the night capped it and put Brunswick in front 32-22.
The second-seeded Bees (19-7), who scored a mere seven points over 19:12 while falling behind 38-24, got no closer than eight points the rest of the night despite the efforts of Mr. Basketball finalist Jon Teske (14 points, 14 rebounds, 4 blocks), Jackson Sartain (12, 4-of-7 3-pointers) and Luke Schaefer (11, 4 rebounds, 3 assists).
Badowski was a 6-foot-6 man on a mission, flaring on pick-and-pops and drilling six consecutive 3-pointers while also playing leave-his-heart-on-the-floor defense on the 7-1 Teske. All 5-10 of point guard Michael Quiring (10 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals) shot 5-for-16 but completely controlled tempo with a turnover-free effort, while Simmons (10 points, 3-of-10 shooting) also reached double-figures and Cebula scored all nine of his points in the second half.
Behind Badowski (6-for-8) and Cebula (2-for-3), Brunswick made 9-of-25 3-pointers to move into eighth in state history with 263.
“That (17-7 deficit) kind of hurt because we you were like, ‘Jeez, what can we do to stop them?’” Quiring said. “All of a sudden, (Badowski) starts bailing us out and we start helping off (on Teske) a lot more. I think that was key — rebounding, stopping the big guy and getting out on No. 12 (Sartain), which was huge.”
Momentum flipped when the Blue Devils double-teamed Teske — the Michigan recruit scored eight points in the first nine minutes — and dared anyone but Sartain to connect from the outside. No one did, as Sartain, Schaefer and Teske were 14-for-29 and the rest of the team was 1-for-14.
To compound matters, Bees guards didn’t fight through screens well enough to stop Badowski.
Badowski responded with three straight threes on pick-and-pops from Quiring to cut the deficit to 21-19. Quiring then blew by his man for a layup to tie the game with 2:43 left in the half, and Badowski again connected from deep to give Brunswick the lead for good.
Saving his best bomb for last, Badowski’s only 3-pointer of the second half began the lightning-fast 8-0 run. Quiring followed with a strip-and-score, Medina missed a quick shot and Cebula got on the scoreboard from the corner.
There still was 3:39 left to play in the third, but the Blue Devils were in control and first-quarter Medina standouts Sartain and Teske were limited the rest of the night. Sartain was 1-for-4 over the final three periods, while Teske missed five of his final six shots.
“Every guy on this team can shoot, and everyone got their looks,” said Badowski, who had 18 points over the prior four games. “It was just me (tonight). I was knocking them down. … I mean, it’s good for it to be me, but I don’t really care as long as win the game.”
“We did not want to sag off of (Badowski),” Bees coach Chris Hassinger added. “Our goal was to be a shell and keep guys in front — go under (screens) — and if (Brunswick) could shoot off the dribble with a contested hand, we thought we’d win the game.”
Medina predictably made a last stand after falling behind 41-27 with 5:43 left, as the Bees scored the next four points before Schaefer missed a wide-open, in-rhythm transition 3-pointer. Schaefer bounced back, though, to make the score 41-33 with two free throws.
Quiring then rose to the occasion, finding freshman Kyle Goessler for a reverse layup with 2:48 to play. Cebula, a 90 percent free throw shooter, made Brunswick’s first foul shots of the game less than a minute later to push the score to 45-33, while Cebula, Simmons and Goessler, who entered 1-for-4 at the line in his career, closed the game by making 6-of-8 free throws.
“Unfortunately, we have to play from behind a lot,” said Cebula, whose team has trailed after the first quarter 10 times this season. “We don’t get off to the best starts in half the games, but we battle back. We’re really confident with how we shoot the ball. A lot of teams don’t have that ability, so it’s nice.”
Blue Devils coach Joe Mackey was completely focused on the moment at hand throughout. Once Simmons grabbed a defensive rebound and was fouled with 18 seconds left, however, Mackey turned away from the play, clapped, pumped his fist and yelled “Hell, yeah!”
Mackey’s players proved — again — they have the mental toughness of champions.
“All that matters is the win,” Quiring said. “I love these guys so much, and that’s all I’m worried about right now.”
Brunswick 51, Medina 39
Copley Division I District Final
MEDINA 17 5 2 15 — 39
BRUNSWICK 10 14 10 17 — 51
Medina — Jackson Sartain 4-7 0-0 12, Luke Schaefer 4-9 3-5 11, Jon Teske 6-13 2-2 14, Colin Szumski 0-2 0-0 0, Ben Geschke 0-7 0-0 0, Dylan Fultz 1-3 0-0 2, Jimmy Clark 0-1 0-0 0, Matthew McNaughton 0-0 0-0 0, Jimmy Daw 0-1 0-0 0, Sam McKee 0-0 0-0 0, Jared Keith 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 15-43 5-7 39.
Brunswick — Kyle Goessler 1-4 2-2 4, Zach Cebula 2-4 3-4 9, Aaron Badowski 6-9 0-0 18, Kevin Simmons 3-10 3-4 10, Michael Quiring 5-16 0-1 10, Zak Zografos 0-1 0-0 0, Keith Simmons 0-0 0-0 0, Tyler Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Filip Grdic 0-0 0-0 0, Austin Mick 0-0 0-0 0, Josh Herron 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 17-44 8-11 51.
3-point goals — Medina 4-15 (Sartain 4-7, Szumski 0-2, Schaefer 0-2, Geschke 0-4), Brunswick 9-25 (Badowski 6-8, Cebula 2-3, Kev. Simmons 1-3, Zografos 0-1, Goessler 0-3, Quiring 0-7). Fouled out — None. Rebounds — Medina 31 (Teske 14), Brunswick 18 (Quiring 5). Assists — Medina 9 (Geschke, Schaefer, Szumski 3), Brunswick 10 (Quiring 6). Turnovers — Medina 11 (Geschke, Schaefer 3), Brunswick 4 (Kev. Simmons 2). Fouls — Medina 16, Brunswick 10. Records — Medina (19-7), Brunswick (21-4).