BEREA-MIDPARK SNAPS BEES WIN STREAK
By Dom DiPasqua/Staff Writer
Friday night, February 7, 2014
NOTE: * Correction in the NEXT UP section at the end of this story. Updated Saturday morning, February 8, 2014 at 11:01 am.
BEREA – When it comes to having a variety of ways to win a basketball game Titans head coach Duke Barther has plenty of formidable weapons in his arsenal. They were all on display tonight.
Host Berea-Midpark, the states 5th ranked team in Division I, rolled past Brecksville-Broadview Heights in Southwestern Conference game in a packed Bob Purdy Gym.
The 70-48 victory, the Titans 16th of the season, was much more impressive than their 11-point win over the Bees a month ago in Broadview Heights.
You want an inside game? The Titans have it. Junior center Nolan Gerrity scored 17 points and had 16 rebounds.
You prefer guard play? One of the best in the area, senior Alex Brown, dazzled the crowd with a 22-point, four assist night. Her scored on drives, runners, from long-range and at the stripe.
Want a deadly mixture of both? Devon Posey, a 6-2, senior forward, added 15 points and six boards.
Heck. Michael Schuller’s pair of first half threes, five assists and three steals were just window dressing.
“I’ll tell you what. Alex Brown is one of the best players in the city. We didn’t do a good job getting back on defense and when we did he just outran us. He’s good. And Nolan Gerrity played very, very well,” said veteran BBHHS head coach Steve Mehalik.
The Bees (10-7, 5-5 SWC) fell behind right off the bat in a high-octane first quarter, but quickly got back into it.
Matching The Intensity
Sophomore guard Tyler Tupa swished a three-ball that tied the rivalry at five and his fist-pump to the vocal pink-clad Titan student section fired himself up. He tied-up the B-M ball handler shortly after the inbound pass and that seemed to ignite Brecksville.
The Bees took their first lead at 8-7 when junior guard Luke Cipolla sank an NBA-distance trey at the 6:00 mark.
Berea-Midpark (16-1, 7-1 SWC) not so much as flinched. Brown’s triple gave the hosts a 17-10 advantage after one.
Demetrius Maddox, a slender 6-4 wing, came off Mehalik’s bench and canned two bombs, courtesy of assists by Tyler Tupa and Cipolla. And senior forward Jon Balhon, who had the unenviable task of guarding Gerrity, muscled his way to six, second stanza points.
That was enough to keep Brecksville in the hunt, down 34-27 at the half.
Second Half Run Out
But a third quarter flurry by the hosts that was capped on a three by bruising sophomore guard Joey Bachie put B-M up 49-31 with 2:30 left in the third.
Brown’s runner in the lane gave his team a 59-40 lead with 6:00 left in the game and that was all she wrote at the corner of Bagley and Eastland.
The Bees were turnover prone. They had 15 miscues, ten of them coming in the first half. Meanwhile B-M had six turnovers and only four of them came when it counted. “That led to us maybe being up at halftime and then it’s a whole different story,” Mehalik said. “We could have stayed in the zone. But when you have to go match-up with them that’s tough.”
Slim Pickin’s
Brecksville shot the ball extremely well in Tuesday night’s 77-67 home win over a very good Olmsted Falls team. They did not fare so well from the field tonight.
Only three Beeville starters scored. Balhorn paved the way with 16 points and fell one rebound short of a double-double. Cipolla added 12 points, six boards and dealt four helpers. Tyler Tupa scored six points.
“We have to make shots,” Mehalik said. “We didn’t play a very good first half, but we made some shots and it was close. You have to make shots against this team. They are a very good basketball team.”
The 6-11 Gerrity has had a splendid junior campaign and two dandy games against the Bees. “With Gerrity in there it makes you shoot long shots. If you miss them they get long rebounds,” said Mehalik. His point was the Titans would then go off to the races.
Brecksville saw it’s four-game win streak, its longest of the season, come to an end.
VARSITY GAME LINE SCORE:
BEES 10 17 09 12 = 48
TITANS 17 17 15 21 = 70
VARSITY GAME OFFICIALS:
Tim Gephardt, Ken Farley and Scott Gooden. (A veteran group.)
STAT-O-MATIC:
BRECKSVILLE ….. The Bees went 14 of 21 for 67% from the free throw line and committed 15 turnovers.
BEREA-MIDPAK .…. The Titans went 17 of 23 for 73.9% from the free throw line and committed 6 turnovers.
BEE STATISTICAL LEADERS:
Scoring ….. Balhorn with 16.
Rebounds ….. Balhorn with 9.
Assists ….. Cipolla with 4.
Steals ….. Not applicable.
Blocked Shots …. Balhorn, Tyler Tupa and Chris Harris with 1 each.
JUNIOR VARSITY GAME:
Brecksville-Broadview Heights got 17 points from freshman Matt Dimitrijevs to claim a 51-40 league triumph over Berea-Midpark.
It was the roster-depleted Bees 39th consecutive victory.
In addition to Dimitrijevs’ performance Brecksville had four players score seven points and another with six.
“Berea-Midpark is a good team. They are very athletic. Our guys played hard. Dimitrijevs gave us a lift in two quarters. He played the second and fourth quarter and he made a lot of shots,” said coach Greg Roderick. “We were aggressive in attacking the basket and we got to the line. We did a lot of good things offensively. And we defended for the most part. We had one little lapse there in the third quarter where they made shots.”
The Bees freshmen team kept rolling with a 20-point win over the Titans in the late afternoon contest.
JUNIOR VARSITY GAME LINE SCORE:
BEES 10 23 06 13 = 51
TITANS 07 11 11 11 = 40
MEHALIK ON ALEX BROWN:
“Alex Brown is really good. The fact that nobody is looking at him at a higher level is a travesty. Baldwin-Wallace was here looking at him tonight and I’m a John Carroll grad, but I think the kid can go Division II or D-1. I think he’s that good.”
QUOTE OF THE NIGHT:
“He got pushed by the way.” – Duke Barther to a zebra passing by in the first quarter.
BEE BUZZ:
The Bees are now 5-5 on the road this season. The Titans only loss this winter was to Olmsted Falls. Berea-Midpark has a huge non-league test tomorrow night at North Royalton. Should it get past Omari Spellman and the Bears they could make a legitimate claim for the second seed in the upcoming blended district tournament behind St. Edward.
The Division I tournament meeting will be held this Sunday afternoon. The BBHHS and Midview brackets will be blended for the 1-24 seeding process. Teams will not only choose which lines on the bracket they wish to go but at which district site they want to play at.
The twist this year is that sectional level games will be played in the home gym of the team with the better seed. Stay tuned to the website late this weekend for a break down of the brackets.
The Berea-Midpark High School parking lot was filling up rapidly at 5:50 pm. The Titan student cheering section all wore pink. It looked like the cotton candy stand at home days.
The Titans Michael Schuller shared a few words and a man-hug with Mehalik during player intros. Brown and Gerrity were all business. B-M has a new scorers table. It was only the second time it’s been put to use according to veteran Berea book keeper Jeff Haas.
The Titans junior varsity team wore some interesting shoes and socks combinations. From the knees down it looked like a paintball factory exploded.
Plenty of old-time Berea and Midpark people were present; from Meteor equipment man Jimmy Floria to former Midpark athletic director Bob Johnson and even former Berea A-D Pat Hunt. It was good to see so many familiar faces, including long time trainer Beau Kinnaird.
Brecksville’s current class of tenth-graders have a 73-4 record since the start of their seventh grade season. It’s last loss was in March of 2012.
Fill in The Blank Friday. Tonight the responsibility fell to junior cheerleader Jessica Washabaugh. My favorite sport in the winter Olympics is Snowboarding because It takes a lot of skill and it’s something I could never see myself doing.
NEXT UP:
* The Bees WILL PLAY AT Lakewood Tuesday night in a non-league contest. The Rangers, under head coach Phil Argento, are having a real nice season. Varsity tip off will follow the 6:00 jayvee game.
Lakewood plays at Avon Lake Saturday night. The Rangers have a pair of big-time outside shooters and play a solid brand of basketball.
“We’re heading into game three of a five-game stretch against Top 20 teams. So we’re going to have a short memory here and focus on the next one,” Mehalik said.
See You At The Bee Hive!
To contact: Ddipa67834@aol.com.
Follow the Lady Bees on-line at: beesbasketball.com. Brecksville plays at Berea-Midpark Saturday afternoon. The second-seeded Titans are in the midst of a five games in eight days stretch.
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