Red Bank Boys Rally To Beat Panthers, Brainerd Girls Crush Lions

  • Friday, January 15, 2021
  • Joseph Dycus

Kel Eddins with the ball in space is a dangerous sight, as he has an array of tricky moves and creative finishes he can go to under the rim. Midway through the fourth quarter of Red Bank’s 55-51 win over the visiting Brainerd Panthers, Eddins quickly closed in on the basket. A Brainerd defender stood in his way, and Eddins was driving toward his weaker left side. The odds looked good for the Panthers defense.

 

But then Eddins exploded toward the rim, moving from right to left, and crammed the ball into the basket with his right hand.

The defender attempted to block the shot, but instead became a victim of one of the most disrespectful dunks of the season. It was a moment few of the delirious Red Bank fans could have imagined happening when the Lions were down 10 in the third.

 

“That end of the third quarter, and beginning of the fourth was when we began to play the way finally played the way we needed to play,” Red Bank coach Nathan Fike said.

 

Brainerd’s Panthers had built that impressive lead mostly on the back of Dennis Lews Jr.’s 16 point second quarter in which he seemed to make every shot he took. Fading threes off the bounce? Good. Incredible layups between multiple defenders? Going in. Stepback midrange jumpers from the baseline. Cash.

 

The game was stopped for about half an hour in the middle of this display of hot shooting, as one of the players threw up near the sideline. After convening with the referees, the game was resumed.

 

“We had a young man puke, and they wanted to take proper precautions so we took proper precautions,” coach Nick Fike said. “Both (Brainerd) coach (Levar Brown) and I agreed to finish the game. I don’t think that changed the game any, since they went on a run there in the second after that.”

 

After building a 32-23 lead at halftime, the Panthers looked primed to run away with the game. Although Red Bank’s number one, number two, and number three (Cam Bell, Ryan Barber, and Eddins) all scored baskets in a row, Brainerd’s Quintus Broadnax manufactured production through sheer hustle.

 

On one possession in the third, he dove out of bounds to save a ball, and then tapped it whilst falling to Deaunte Crawford for layup. On the very next play, he fought off multiple Lions for a putback on the offensive glass. And to finish off the trio of effort plays, he grabbed one more rebound of a teammate’s miss to gain another possession.

 

The high point for the Panthers’ night came on the next play. After they forced a turnover, Crawford was all alone in the open court. He rose high above his ground-bound peers and smashed in two emphatic points with his right, giving the Panthers a 42-32 lead and all of the momentum.

 

But as many statistically-minded pundits often say, momentum is a figment of the imagination. That dunk must have snapped the Lions out of whatever funk they were in, because Red Bank took over for the next ten minutes. First was a thee pointer from the wing by Kalen Sewell, and then a two man fastbreak between A.D Crutcher and Barber for a quick transition score.

 

After Brainerd’s Keon Wheeler narrowly avoided hitting his head on the backboard during a baseline lob gone wrong, Nick Smith flashed to the middle of the floor and sank a midrange two. Sewell hit his second three of the game a few moments later to tie things at 42 apiece, and then Barber scored to give the Lions their first lead since the second quarter.

 

“These guys are resilient. They’re gritty competitors and just to hear them pick each other and help each other……it just comes from the bench,” coach Fike said. “It’s a bunch of guys who refuse to lose.”

 

Aside from Eddins’ gravity-defying dunk, Red Bank’s lead grew in large part to Cam Bell’s incredible rim-protection and Brainerd’s inability to hit a free throw. When they weren’t whiffing from the line, the Panthers were being swatted away by Bell’s long arms. Those easy layups and putbacks Brainerd enjoyed in the first two and a half quarters were replaced by difficult attempts and passes out to the perimeter.

 

“That kid’s a sophomore, and we knew he can defend and we have confidence in him,” coach Fike said. “He was a gamechanger for us.”

 

Red Bank held on to win the game, albeit in a more stressful fashion than coach liked. With a ten point lead with about a minute to go in the game, victory should have been assured. But with a sudden cold spell from the Lions at the line, turnovers, and some timely Lewis Jr. freebies of his own, the game wasn’t truly iced until Taylor Swanson hit a free throw with three seconds left to put the Lions up 55-51.

 

You can contact the Joseph at Joseph.a.dycus@gmail.com .

 

BOYS SUMMARY
BRAINERD                11   21     10    09  --  51
RED BANK                 12   11    21     11  --  55

BRAINERD (51) –
 Lattimore 4, Lewis Jr. 23, Crawford 10, Byrdsong 5, Broadnax 9


RED BANK (55) – Barber 11, Swanson 6, Eddins 16, Bell 9, Clay 3, Smith 2, Sewell 8,


3-POINT GOALS: Brainerd 3 (Lewis Jr. 3); Red Bank 5 (Eddins 2, Sewell 2, Clay 1).

 

 

 

 

Brainerd Girls Defeat Red Bank 57-13 

 

Brainerd’s downright suffocating defense forced the Red Bank Lions to have more turnovers than shot attempts in the Panthers’ 57-13 win over the Lions. Raijeria Bell’s 24 was scored almost-entirely through layups after being hit with an outlet following a steal.

 

Arteya Scott’s 16 were scored in similar fashion, as Brainerd’s defense and interior scoring were too much to handle for the Lions. Utilizing a 2-3 trap zone defense, the Panthers were adept at forcing the ball to one side and then pouncing on the escape pass.

 

To Red Bank’s credit, the team continued to fight as the deficit grew ever-larger. Ashley Ware repeatedly took the ball strong to the hoop, and Aiyana Loher fouled hard and played harder on defense from the first minute of the game to the last.  

 

 

 

GIRLS SUMMARY
BRAINERD                18    20   16   03  --  57
RED BANK                 02    00   04   07  --  13


BRAINERD (54) – Raijeria Bell 24, Wright 2, Collins 2, Belcher 4, Arteya Scott 16, Mason 7, Carter 2


RED BANK (13) – Gann 2, Loher 2, Guye 2, Ware 7


3-POINT GOALS: Brainerd 0; Red Bank 0

(Contact Joseph Dycus at joseph.a.a.dycus@gmail.com)

 

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