There is a solid argument to be made for interior drives being the most difficult part of a three-level scorer’s repertoire. Not only does the attacking player need the handle to control the ball as he drives into the paint, but he also requires great body control as he slips through the densely packed middle. And when he gets to the rim, he needs the touch and dexterity to softly lay the ball up off the glass while dealing with contact.
Cleveland’s Jasen Brooks displayed the many skills needed to be a successful driver in Cleveland’s 61-57 win over the visiting East Hamilton Hurricanes for a regional championship.
He didn’t do it right away though, instead electing to bury back to back threes from both wings during a first quarter that saw the Raiders lead 15-8. Wing Michael Dale was also exceptional and had five points in the quarter. But with five seconds left in the quarter, Brooks was the one who went to work.
“My seniors saw he was hot and they kept feeding him,” Cleveland coach Reggie Tucker said about the sophomore who ended the night with a game-high 26. “So shout out to my seniors. They saw a young guy that was in a rhythm and kept giving it to him.”
He backed up and stayed essentially motionless for several seconds before going into his move. Brooks then drove to his right, past his defender, and flipped a shot high off the backboard as the 6’7 Cade Pendleton tried his best to block the shot. But Brooks’ shot had that Jameer Nelson-esque quality to it and possessed such drastic arc that no player could have blocked it without inspector-gadget arms.
“I feel like this would be my ‘Here I am game’ where I show I’m the real deal,” Brooks said.
That seven point lead didn’t last for long though, as East Hamilton’s Darwin Randolph stole the show with nine points in that frame. He scored from a hanging midrange shot, a three pointer to answer a Brooks drive, and two stupidly athletic drives in the open court. On his second drive, he blew through the defense and euro-stepped past the last man to give him space for the impossible shot.
Meanwhile, Cleveland’s outfit continued to keep pace because of sharpshooter Klay McGowan’s shotmaking, whose windshield-wiper turnaround jumper from the elbow was reminiscent of an era gone by. He was also proficient at moving without the ball, and the senior hit a three from the corner and leaked out for another layup in transition. McGowan finished with 13 points.
“Every single day, the seniors push us and hold us accountable,” Brooks said. “If we do something wrong, they tell us to fix it up and do it better.”
East Hamilton’s guard tandem of Randolph and Marcus Long paired with bigman Pendleton to provide the vast majority of the Hurricanes’ second-half offense. Meanwhile, the third quarter started with two quick bombs from McGowan, including a nasty hesitation crossover three from the top, before turning into a Jasen Brooks duel with East Hamilton’s Marcus Long.
Long, who finished with 15 points, showed off his rocket-launcher legs when he drove baseline before cramming it home. But before the Hurricanes’ strong visiting student section could be too loud, Brooks came right back and took hit hard to the paint on back to back possessions to calm the crowd.
Then Long had the play of the night when he ran from the left side to the right as Pendleton put up an errant hook shot. Long somehow corralled the ball while still in midair and flushed it through as he was being fouled. But such a dazzling play had little effect on Brooks, who hit a layup on one possession, before breaking ankles on a left to right crossover into a scoop layup (and the foul) as the quarter ended.
“I’ve seen the kid play against some elite guys in the summer circuit, so I knew what he was capable of,” coach Tucker said. “I just told him, ‘Listen, you’re gonna have opportunities to get to the rim when you get a mismatch,’ and did he take advantage tonight. He took good shots and ran the floor.”
Cleveland pulled away in the fourth quarter, with a corner triple by sophomore Judah Sault pushing the lead to 50-43. That basket came after a long possession, and their next one was even longer and lasted almost two minutes. The Raiders were able to pick out exactly the matchup and shot they wanted. By the time East Hamilton began to pressure the ball, there were only about two minutes left to come back from a 55-43 lead.
“When we played them the first time, they did the same thing,” coach Tucker said about how East Hamilton reacted to the stall. “I also saw it at the end of the second quarter. I felt like 12 or four couldn’t guard anyone we had on the floor, so we moved the ball and got the mismatch.”
Senior Grant Hurst made seven of ten free throws to mostly negate East Hamilton’s foul game. Meanwhile, the Hurricanes will probably rue their impotence at the line, where they only made five of 12 in the four point loss. After a last two minutes that seemed to last at least ten times that long, the Blue Raiders were named district champs.
“We had to come together as a team to win,” Brooks said. “That’s what we did. We did the little things, and we won.”
SUMMARY:
EAST HAMILTON 8 20 12 17 - 57
CLEVELAND 15 12 18 16 - 61
EAST HAMILTON (57) – Darwin Randolph 14, Marcus Long 15, Cade Pendleton 16, Harris 4, Eller 6, Munson 2
CLEVELAND (61) – Dale 8, Sault 3, Jasen Brooks 26, Grant Hurst 11, Klay McGowan 13
3-POINT GOALS: East Hamilton 6 (Randolph 2, Pendleton 2, Long, Harris); Cleveland 8 (McGowan 3, Dale 2, Brooks 2, Sault)
Contact the author at joseph.a.dycus@gmail.com