Briarcrest fights from behind to beat MBA

By Jason Williams

Eads, TN – With their backs against the wall, some unlikely heroes stepped up for Briarcrest to rally the Saints past Montgomery Bell Academy and into the state tournament with a 55-45 hard-fought victory.

Adam Pike was a perfect 5-of-5 from behind the three-point line against the Big Red.

Junior Adam Pike brought his team back from a nine-point

deficit with 17 points, including three three-pointers during a 9-2 run to end the third quarter. Pike made all five of his three-point attempts in the victory and brought life to his team and the home crowd.

“It was just a good night,” Pike said. “My teammates were finding me, and everybody was looking to get me open.”

Briarcrest (19-9) trailed 31-24 at halftime and gave up the opening bucket of the third quarter to Jermaine Francis. But sophomore Maceo Woodard started the comeback with the Saints’ first seven points of the third quarter.

With its two leading scorers – sophomores Micah Thomas (13.7 points per game) and Mark French (10.7 ppg) – totaling only two points, the Saints were forced to find different sources of offense. Woodard and Pike led Briarcrest to a 16-8 advantage in the third quarter.

“Coach (Harrington) got onto us,” Woodard said. “Everybody else just had to pick it up and carry their weight.”

Maceo Woodard was challenged by his head coach at halftime and responded with the his team’s first seven points of the third quarter.

MBA (17-8) jumped out to an early lead on the shoulders of Alex Bars, a 6-foot-6, 309-pound offensive tackle who has signed with the University of Notre Dame. Bars buried defenders on the block and scored 11 points in the first half.

Briarcrest changed its defense at halftime to front Bars in the post and have the 6-foot-7 Thomas on help side to prevent easy baskets.

“The second half, the only adjustment we made is we told (Gus Gran and Will Hrubes) to front him,” Harrington said. “We left Micah at the rim a little bit more. We told our guys to get on help side and then sprint to close out, the way you’re supposed to play defense. We quit trying to be too smart and just played regular defense.”

With Thomas struggling on offense, Hrubes earned more playing time in the middle for the Saints. Hrubes, a 6-foot-4 sophomore, has been a consistent spark off the bench this season, averaging 5.9 points per game.

“I just go in and make the most of my minutes,” Hrubes said. “I try to do my assignments right and just try to make the easy play. I just gotta win it for my teammates. That’s all that really matters.”

Hrubes didn’t expect to play in the post this season, but he stepped up against the big men of MBA and scored 12 points. He opened the fourth quarter with back-to-back buckets to give the Saints a two-point lead and closed it with three free throws in the closing minute.

“Will can score,” Harrington said. “He hit a few baskets down the stretch that were really big. He caught the ball and made a few little spinning lay-ups.”

The Saints will now travel to Nashville for the state semi-finals on Friday. Harrington wasn’t shy in saying he didn’t know if this team could return to Nashville after losing over a dozen key players from the past two teams that made the state championship.

“There’s no way I thought we’d be here right now,” Harrington said. “There’s no way. This team is not the best talent-wise or the best team record-wise, but as far as coming from where they started and where they ended, that’s the best team.”

With only four teams remaining in the state tournament, Hrubes believes the key to returning to the state championship game is each player stepping up and doing his part.

“I’ve got to play my assignment, and we all gotta play our roles,” Hrubes said. “If we put all that together, we’re going to be a hard team to beat. If we execute and play well on defense, we’ll make the state championship.”

The Big Red was led by Bars and Joe McKinney with 11 points. Jermaine Francis also added 10 points. Elliott Morrissey entered the game as the team’s leading scorer at 11.2 points per game but did not score.

State tournament preview:

MUS traveled to Chattanooga for a battle with the No. 1 team in the East/Middle region and defeated McCallie 56-33. The Owls and the Saints will play Friday at 2:45 p.m., at Allen Arena on the campus of Lipscomb University.

Christian Brothers defeated Chattanooga Baylor 51-38 to advance to the state semi-finals. Their opponent will be the Ensworth, who has won three straight state titles and four of the last five.

Unofficial box score:

No.	BCS Player	Pts.	Reb.	Ast.	TO	Blk.	Stl.	FG	3P	FT
11	Adam Pike	17	0	0	1	0	0	6-7	5-5	0-0
20	Will Hrubes	12	3	0	0	0	0	4-7	1-4	3-4
4	Gus Gran*	10	8	4	1	0	1	3-3	1-1	3-4
21	Maceo Woodard*	9	6	2	1	0	0	3-7	1-3	2-3
15	KeShun Pinkney*	5	0	3	1	0	0	1-2	1-2	2-2
10	Mark French*	2	2	3	2	0	2	0-6	0-3	2-2
2	Marc Wilhite	0	0	0	0	0	0	0-0	0-0	0-0
32	Will Carter	0	0	0	1	0	0	0-0	0-0	0-0
35	Micah Thomas*	0	4	1	2	3	0	0-3	0-1	0-0
–	TEAM	–	1	–	1	–	–	–	–	–
Totals		55	24	13	10	3	3	17-35	9-19	12-15

No.	MBA Player	Pts.	Reb.	Ast.	TO	Blk.	Stl.	FG	3P	FT
20	Joe McKinney	11	2	0	1	0	0	4-9	3-7	0-0
44	Alex Bars*	11	1	0	1	0	0	5-6	0-0	1-4
22	Jermaine Francis*	10	4	2	2	0	1	5-8	0-0	0-0
21	John Hazen	5	1	1	0	0	0	2-4	1-2	0-0
11	Duncan Smith*	3	1	3	2	0	0	1-5	1-1	0-0
12	Jonah Rappuhn	3	1	0	3	0	1	1-3	1-1	0-0
40	Parker Bryan	2	1	1	0	0	0	1-4	0-0	0-0
4	Elliott Morrissey*	0	4	2	0	0	2	0-3	0-2	0-0
10	Vinny Gaglione*	0	0	2	0	0	1	0-1	0-0	0-0
24	Greg Quesinberry	0	0	0	0	0	0	0-0	0-0	0-0
32	Charlie Hawkins	0	0	1	0	1	0	0-0	0-0	0-0
33	Jordan Wilson	0	0	0	0	0	0	0-0	0-0	0-0
–	TEAM	–	8	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Totals		45	23	12	9	1	5	19-43	6-13	1-4

Pike steps up for Briarcrest in 52-40 win over St. Benedict

By Jason Williams

Cordova, TN – When Briarcrest point guard Mark French picked up his second foul three minutes into the game, the Saints had to find another leader. Head coach John Harrington found him in his first sub off the bench with junior Adam Pike.

Pike steadied the offense for the rest of the first half and scored 12 points in the second half as Briarcrest (17-8, 3-1) pulled away from St. Benedict (10-12, 0-4) to claim a 52-40 victory.

“It was a great win for us because (French) has been our catalyst this year,” Harrington said. “Adam Pike stepped up and had a huge game for us.”

After teams traded runs in the third quarter, Pike hit a three from the left corner to increase the Saints’ lead to 38-33. He scored the Saints’ final nine points in the last four minutes of the game, including two big free throws.

“I just didn’t want to let my team down,” Pike said. “We weren’t shooting the ball well from the free throw line. I don’t know why because we’re a good shooting team, but I didn’t want to let my teammates down, so I knew I was going to hit those shots.”

Briarcrest was 6-of-16 from the free throw line.

Joey Magnifico generated most of St. Benedict’s offense through the first three quarters, scoring 22 of his team’s 33 points on an array of mid-range jump shots. But Magnifico went scoreless in the fourth quarter as the Saints’ defense limited his touches.

“We really didn’t do anything (differently),” Harrington said. “Gus (Gran) just did a great job defensively.”

Briarcrest sophomore Maceo Woodard was the game’s leading scorer with 14 points, but Harrington said his biggest impact was guarding Tyler Currie on the defensive end.

“I thought he did a great job defensively,” Harrington said. “I don’t care how many shots he was missing. He was going to stay in because he was guarding Currie.”

Box score:

Briarcrest (52): Maceo Woodard 14, Adam Pike 12, Micah Thomas 10, Mark French 9, Will Hrubes 4, Gus Gran 3

St. Benedict (40): Joey Magnifico 22, Tyler Currie 9, Ryne Dennis 4, Kyle Van Hoeck 3, A.J. Sturdivant 2

Other news and notes from tonight’s game:

Division II-AA West Region update:

T-1. Briarcrest (17-8, 3-1)*

T-1. CBHS (12-11, 3-1)

3. MUS (11-11, 2-2)

4. St. Benedict (10-12, 0-4)

* Briarcrest currently holds the tiebreaker over CBHS after its 52-46 victory on January 24.

Remaining regional games:

Briarcrest: 2/7 vs. MUS, 2/11 at CBHS

CBHS: 2/7 vs. St. Benedict, 2/11 vs. Briarcrest

MUS: 2/7 at Briarcrest, 2/11 vs. St. Benedict

St. Benedict: 2/7 at CBHS, 2/11 at MUS

Briarcrest ices Brighton at free throw line

By Jason Williams

Brighton, TN – Briarcrest head coach John Harrington called a timeout with his team clinging to a one-point lead with five minutes remaining against Brighton Tuesday night.

The Saints broke the huddle and finished with a 12-2 run to slowly pull away from the Cardinals and claim a 48-37 victory. All 12 points were scored from the free throw line.

“We only scored one basket in the fourth quarter,” Harrington said. “The free throws won the ball game for us.”

Briarcrest (14-7) only attempted 27 shots and committed 19 turnovers, but the Saints held the Cardinals to 32.6 percent (15-of-46) shooting and dominated the boards 36-20.

“Nineteen turnovers against a zone defense was horrible,” Harrington said. “We didn’t shoot the ball well. Early in the year if we didn’t shoot well, we’d have lost. We figured out a way to win. Defensively, we were pretty good tonight.”

Maceo Woodard led the Saints with 15 points and eight rebounds. He made all five of his field goal attempts. With leading scorer Micah Thomas struggling throughout the game, Woodard’s production helped the Saints gain a first-half lead.

“Micah was having a little struggle, so I had to step up rebounding,” said Woodard, a 6-foot-4 sophomore. “Coach was just telling me to play hard and everything would work out.”

“Maceo carried us in the first half,” Harrington said. “He played great. He had one bad play, and I took him out. I probably should have stuck him right back in there. That’s my fault, but he carried us tonight. He did a great job.”

Brighton was led by Tyvon Cooper with 12 points. Milton Hardy came off the bench to score eight points and pulled down six rebounds.

The Saints got big contributions from sophomore point guard Mark French. French finished with 14 points and made 8 of 10 free throws, all in the second half. Senior Gus Gran pulled down 11 rebounds. Sophomore Will Hrubes also finished with seven rebounds.

Junior guard Adam Pike scored nine points and added four rebounds and three assists. Pike has been the first player off the bench for much of the season, but his role has increased since senior guard Will Carter suffered a leg injury against MHEA on January 14.

Other news and notes from tonight’s game:

Brighton center Charles Mosley played sparingly in the first half and finished with one rebound in the second half. Mosley (6-foot-5, 350 pounds) has committed to the University of Tennessee to play football.

Unofficial box score:

No.	BCS Player	Pts.	Reb.	Ast.	TO	Blk.	Stl.	FG	3P	FT
21	Maceo Woodard*	15	8	0	5	0	0	5-5	0-0	5-6
10	Mark French*	14	3	1	2	0	2	2-6	2-5	8-10
11	Adam Pike	9	4	3	2	0	0	2-4	1-3	4-4
4	Gus Gran*	4	11	1	3	0	1	2-5	0-0	0-1
35	Micah Thomas*	4	2	0	4	3	2	0-4	0-4	4-4
20	Will Hrubes	2	7	1	1	0	0	1-3	0-2	0-0
2	Marc Wilhite	0	0	2	1	0	0	0-0	0-0	0-2
15	KeShun Pinkney*	0	0	1	1	0	0	0-0	0-0	0-0
–	TEAM	–	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Totals		48	36	9	19	3	5	12-27	3-14	21-27

No.	BHS Player	Pts.	Reb.	Ast.	TO	Blk.	Stl.	FG	3P	FT
2	Tyvon Cooper*	12	2	2	4	0	1	4-10	0-0	4-4
22	Milton Hardy	8	6	0	2	0	3	4-8	0-0	0-0
5	Tramaine Cooper*	7	0	2	1	0	2	3-8	1-4	0-0
11	Lorenzo Hunt*	5	3	1	0	0	0	2-7	0-0	1-2
33	Kolton Childress*	5	3	0	0	0	1	2-4	0-0	1-5
1	Bentley Jones	0	1	0	0	0	1	0-5	0-2	0-0
12	Charles Mosley	0	1	0	0	0	0	0-0	0-0	0-0
20	John Francis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0-0	0-0	0-0
32	Nathan Scarbrough*	0	0	0	0	0	0	0-1	0-0	0-0
35	Terriwayne White	0	2	0	0	0	0	0-3	0-0	0-0
–	TEAM	–	2	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Totals		37	20	5	7	0	8	15-46	1-6	6-11

French secures Briarcrest victory at free throw line

By Jason Williams

EADS, TN – Mark French found himself in a familiar position for Briarcrest late in its game against Millington Central Saturday.

French made six of seven free throws in the closing two minutes to secure a 65-55 victory for the Saints (11-6). The Trojans (6-9) stayed in the game with five three-pointers in the fourth quarter, but the sophomore point guard kept his poise and ended any hopes of a comeback at the free throw line.

“We talked about it at the end of the game,” said Briarcrest head coach John Harrington. “We shot 13-for-16 tonight (at the free throw line) … French is really good. He’s quick. He’s hard to keep the ball out of his hands. We think late in the game, we can win with him at the line.”

French is shooting close to 90 percent from the free throw line this season, according to Harrington. Having been in the same situation multiple times this season, French is becoming increasingly comfortable at the free throw line late in the game.

“It’s just getting extra free throws in after practice and just being in that situation before,” said French, who finished with 16 points. “You get used to it after a little while. It just comes second nature.”

Saints forward Micah Thomas tied for the team-high with 16 points and also contributed eight rebounds, four assists and two blocks. The 6-foot-7 sophomore was primarily a spot-up shooter at the beginning of the season, but he has recently focused his efforts on driving to the basket. Thomas made all six of his shots inside the three-point line including three dunks.

“(Thomas) usually makes a lot of threes,” Harrington said. “He only made one tonight. He made some aggressive moves to the basket tonight. He’s getting better inside. For a sophomore, 16 points and eight rebounds and a few assists, that’s a pretty good game. He’s staying on the floor longer because his defense is getting better and better.”

“I’ve worked on my inside game a little more so I know I can knock down threes when I need to,” Thomas said.

Gus Gran finished with 11 points, 13 rebounds and four assists for the Saints, who outrebounded the Trojans 37-23. Adam Pike also added 10 points.

Millington Central’s Jordan Browning led all scorers with 19 points on 6-of-15 shooting including 3-of-9 from three. Julian Daughtry scored 12 points while Roddarius Pitts added 11. Pitts scored the Trojans’ first eight points of the fourth quarter to cut the Saints’ lead to five points.

Briarcrest responded to Pitts’ scoring outburst with a 10-3 run to put the game out of Millington Central’s reach. The game ended with a left-handed dunk on a fast break from Thomas.

Unofficial box score:

No.	BCS Player	Pts.	Reb.	Ast.	TO	Blk.	Stl.	FG	3P	FT
10	Mark French*	16	3	0	1	0	1	4-9	2-6	6-7
35	Micah Thomas*	16	8	4	1	2	0	7-11	1-4	1-1
4	Gus Gran*	11	13	4	2	1	0	4-8	1-1	2-3
11	Adam Pike	10	1	2	2	0	2	4-10	2-4	0-0
21	Maceo Woodard*	5	6	1	2	0	1	1-6	0-2	3-4
20	Will Hrubes	4	3	1	1	0	0	2-4	0-1	0-0
15	KeShun Pinkney*	3	0	2	2	0	1	1-1	1-1	0-0
32	Will Carter	0	0	1	0	0	0	0-1	0-1	0-0
–	TEAM	–	3	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	TOTALS	65	37	15	11	3	5	23-50	7-20	12-15

No.	MCHS Player	Pts.	Reb.	Ast.	TO	Blk.	Stl.	FG	3P	FT
30	Jordan Browning*	19	6	1	1	0	0	6-15	3-9	4-4
3	Julian Daughtry*	12	6	0	1	0	0	5-11	2-3	0-1
5	Roddarius Pitts*	11	1	2	2	0	1	4-11	2-6	1-2
1	Devynn Brandon*	6	3	0	1	0	1	3-5	0-1	0-0
23	Lakeron Garcia*	3	0	4	1	0	1	1-4	1-2	0-0
12	Devontae Winston	2	0	0	1	0	0	1-1	0-0	0-0
32	Kelvin Jones	2	2	0	1	0	0	1-1	0-0	0-0
22	Denarius Curry	0	0	0	0	0	0	0-0	0-0	0-0
24	Andrew Banks	0	1	0	0	0	0	0-1	0-1	0-0
33	George Anderson	0	1	0	0	0	1	0-0	0-0	0-0
44	Nick Hunt	0	2	0	0	0	0	0-2	0-0	0-0
	TEAM	–	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	TOTALS	55	23	7	8	0	4	21-51	8-22	5-7

Pike fuels Briarcrest to 51-49 win over St. Benedict

By Jason Williams

Eads, TN – Despite a solid shooting performance, Briarcrest spent much of Friday night trying to figure out how to attack St. Benedict’s defense. The Saints only attempted 26 shots, making 16 of them, during the 32-minute bout against the Eagles, but it was key free-throw shooting that ultimately sealed a 51-49 victory at Rowell Arena.

“They’re a patient defense,” said Briarcrest head coach John Harrington. “They give you a lot of looks, but you’re not really open. We told (our players) that you’re going to have some things that you think are open, but you’re really not going to be open, so just be patient. We were patient.”

Briarcrest (10-6 overall, 1-0 Div. II-AA West) made nine of 11 free throws in the fourth quarter to keep a lead against St. Benedict (7-7, 0-1).

“(We) made some free throws down the stretch,” Harrington said. “Gus (Gran) made two big ones. Mark (French) made four, and Adam (Pike) made one. We did a good job executing late in the game.”

The Eagles outrebounded the Saints by 11 and attempted 18 more field goals (18-of-44), but a dismal performance from the free throw line prevented St. Benedict from overcoming Briarcrest’s slim lead. The Eagles made only 10 of 21 free throws, including 4 of 8 in the fourth quarter.

The Saints went into the fourth quarter with a two-point lead, but the Eagles started the final quarter on a 4-0 run after baskets from Joey Magnifico and Ryne Dennis.

On the next two possessions, Briarcrest guard Adam Pike broke out of a slump by hitting two free throws and a three-pointer that gave the Saints a 44-41 lead.

“We had good ball movement,” Pike said. “I threw it to the corner, and I went back out to the other corner. Gus Gran set me a good screen, and I hit the shot. It was a good pass from (Micah Thomas).”

Pike opened the season by scoring double-figures in his first four games, including 22 points against FCA on Nov. 12. Since a strong November, Pike had been mired in a shooting slump. His nine points Friday were his most since scoring 19 points against East on Nov. 23.

“It feels good to be back,” Pike said. “My teammates were behind me. My coach kept telling me to keep shooting it, so that’s what I did.”

“Adam is one of our best, if not our best shooter,” Harrington said. “He’s just been in a slump. Sometimes when you aren’t shooting it well, it affects the rest of your game. But we stayed with him. He’s been the first sub off the bench. At halftime, I looked at him and said, ‘if you don’t shoot the ball, you’re not going to play.’ We ran a couple plays early to get him some shots, and he knocked them down.”

Pike’s most impressive series of plays didn’t center around his shooting though. Pike bodied up against Dennis in the paint, forcing a poor shot attempt. Moments later, with under 20 seconds remaining, Pike received an outlet pass from Will Hrubes. Instead of pushing the ball ahead for an open lay-up, Pike pulled the ball back out and allowed a few extra seconds to tick off the clock.

“I could have gotten us a lay-up, but I knew there was only 20 seconds left,” Pike said. “I heard the bench scream to pull it out, so that’s what I did.”

Dennis led all scorers with 11 points. Tyler Currie and A.J. Sturdivant also had 10 points for the Eagles.

Other notes from tonight’s game:

Perfect shooting: Briarcrest was a perfect 6-for-6 shooting in the first quarter, including 3-of-3 beyond the arc. The Saints’ first miss of the night was a three-point attempt by Mark French with 7:27 remaining in the second quarter. The Saints were 11-of-14 (78.6 percent) and 16-of-26 (61.5 percent) for the game.

Division 2-AA West Region outlook: “This whole region is going to be like this every night,” Harrington said. “There’s four good teams, and everybody is about the same. You’ve got to protect the home court.”

Unofficial box scores:

No.	BCS Player	Pts.	Reb.	Ast.	TO	Blk.	Stl.	FG	3P	FT
10	Mark French*	10	1	2	1	0	2	2-3	0-1	6-7
35	Micah Thomas*	10	4	3	4	4	0	3-5	2-3	2-4
11	Adam Pike	9	0	0	0	0	0	2-2	2-2	3-4
21	Maceo Woodard*	7	4	3	2	1	2	3-5	1-1	0-2
4	Gus Gran*	6	2	1	2	0	0	2-5	0-2	2-3
15	KeShun Pinkney*	5	2	1	3	0	1	2-2	1-1	0-0
20	Will Hrubes	4	3	0	1	0	1	2-4	0-2	0-0
2	Marc Wilhite	0	0	0	0	1	0	0-0	0-0	0-0
32	Will Carter	0	2	0	0	0	0	0-0	0-0	0-0
Totals		51	18	10	13	6	6	16-26	6-12	13-20

No.	SBA Player	Pts.	Reb.	Ast.	TO	Blk.	Stl.	FG	3P	FT
11	Ryne Dennis*	11	3	0	0	0	0	5-8	1-2	0-0
5	Tyler Currie*	10	5	2	3	1	2	3-7	0-1	4-8
21	A.J. Sturdivant*	10	3	1	2	0	3	3-9	0-3	4-9
3	Joey Magnifico*	7	5	0	3	0	0	3-10	1-5	0-0
2	Hunter Story	6	7	0	0	0	0	2-4	0-1	2-4
15	Kyle Van Hoeck*	5	0	0	1	0	1	2-3	1-1	0-0
1	Michael Bardos	0	2	0	2	0	0	0-1	0-1	0-0
10	Alex Rittman	0	1	0	0	0	0	0-2	0-0	0-0
14	Josh Kleber	0	0	0	0	0	0	0-0	0-0	0-0
–	TEAM	–	3	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Totals		49	29	3	11	1	6	18-44	3-14	10-21