Cleveland's Holly Rogers had 14 points.
photo by Greg Davick
With Cleveland concentrating on Corey Sanders and Emmanuel Talley, Brainerd's Darryl Ivery broke free and scored the game-winning points just before the final buzzer Tuesday night at Brainerd.
Sanders' 8-foot runner gave Brainerd a 65-63 victory on a night when former Panther assistant coach Bill Byron was honored in pregame festivities.
Talley and Sanders combined for 47 points, forcing Cleveland into a triangle-and-two in the third quarter. The strategy by Cleveland coach Aaron Green worked and the Raiders took a 62-57 lead on a field goal from Alex Goldston with 51 seconds left in the game.
Sanders pulled Brainerd within 62-59 with 38 seconds left, and Cleveland was unable to get the ball inbounds in five seconds. Sanders then dished off to Jonathan White as Brainerd got within 62-61 with 32 seconds left.
Goldston made a free throw with 24 seconds remaining, but Sanders tied the game at 11 with two free throws.
After a Cleveland timeout, Cleveland senior Charles Little was fouled with 5.5 seconds left. Little, a University of Dayton signee, missed both free throws.
Instead of calling a timeout, Brainerd coach Robert High signaled for his players to attack. With Cleveland's players concentrating on Talley and Sanders, Ivery streaked downcourt.
Talley got the inbounds pass, and flipped the ball ahead to Sanders.
Sanders took one dribble past the free-throw line and lofted in the game-winning shot.
"He couldn't have taken another dribble without the clock expiring,'' High said. "We were expecting them to pressure Talley and Sanders, but Talley saw 'DI' streaking wide open. He made a beautiful shot.''
Talley led Brainerd (15-6) with 24 points. He made three three-pointers. Most of Sanders' 23 points came on slashing drives toward the basket. White added 10 for the Panthers.
"We've been up-and-down all year,'' High said. "We only scored 38 points last week at Howard. It's a lot mental.
"The kids have a tendency to really get up for certain games, and they were up tonight. We may have been too hpyed at Howard.''
High said the victory over Cleveland (13-5) should be a confidence booster.
"We've got the talent,'' he said. "It has been a lot of mental mistakes, a lot of them by veteran players. Hopefully, this win will be a key.''
Colby Dodd made six three-pointers and led Cleveland with 26 points. Goldston added 15 points and Little was held to nine points.
"We thought about going to a box on Dodd because he was killing us,'' High said. "We decided to just cheat the wing and it worked. We didn't allow him to get another field goal after that.''
Cleveland made 11 of 16 free throws and Brainerd made 10 of 18.
Byron served as High's assistant for 23 years. The Panthers were 609-164 with Byron on their bench. They won three state titles, finished as state runners-up twice, won 15 district titles and 10 region championships.
Byron was presented a plaque and a rocking chair. His wife, Sue, received a dozen roses.
CLEVELAND GIRLS 87, BRAINERD 41: Cleveland's Crista Burtnett scored her 1,000th career point as the Lady Raiders (12-7) coasted.
Kerri Simpson led Cleveland's scoring with 20 points. Holly Rogers, who scored her 1,000th point last season, added 14 points. Allison Rader contributed 12 points for Cleveland. Rader is within 100 points of reaching 1,000 career points.
Michelle Smith and Lauren Brett added nine each for Cleveland and Burtnett scored eight.
Nikita Davis and Gabrielle Walker scored eight each for Brainerd.
SUMMARIES
Boys
CLEVELAND (63) -- Ben McChesney 5, Alex Goldston 15, Colby Dodd 26, Charles Little 9, Charles Jett 3, David Cartwright 5.
BRAINERD (65) -- Emmanuel Talley 24, Corey Sanders 23, Darryl Ivery 6, Jonathan White 10, Michael McReynolds, Rodney Billingsley 2, Michael Taylor.
Cleveland....19..11..16..17 -- 63
Brainerd.....18..12..18..17 -- 65
Three-point goals -- Dodd 6, Talley 3, McChesney, Cartwright.
Girls
CLEVELAND (87) -- Allison Rader 12, Crista Burtnett 8, Lauren Brett 9, Holly Rogers 14, Kerri Simpson 20, Angie Wells 4, Michelle Smith 9, Kyndall Edwards 3, Rachel Isom 6, Michelle Davis 2, Cacy Burtnett, Courtney Anderson.
BRAINERD (41) -- Nakesha Strickland 2, Latisha Smith 3, Courtney Atkinson 6, Nikita Davis 8, Bunnie McCoy 6, Shay McCain 4, Gabrielle Walker 8, Brittany Smith 2, Kimesha Jackson 2.
Cleveland....24..21..20..22 -- 87
Brainerd.....10..13...8..10 -- 41
Three-point goals -- Brett, Michelle Smith, Latisha Smith.
(E-mail Stan Crawley at wscrawley@earthlink.net)