MRH Boys Outlast Brentwood, Maintains Perfect League Mark

From the moment the game tipped off until the final buzzer sounded, head coach Corey Frazier failed to see what he expects from his Maplewood Richmond Heights boys’ basketball team Tuesday night.

On the other sideline, Brentwood head coach Brad Kern was pleased with his squad’s effort despite being without 6-foot-11 center Amadou Cisse, who has missed the past few games with an injury.

With that said, one would assume that the Eagles knocked off the host Blue Devils in their rivalry rematch. If not for MRH senior reserve Marcus Taylor, Brentwood just might have escaped with the victory.

Taylor tallied 17 of his team-best 19 points after halftime to lead the Blue Devils to a 67-53 win over the Eagles to remain perfect in the South Central A.A. Conference.

“I’m not going to make any excuses for our guys,” Frazier lamented. “I give Brentwood credit for coming out here and throwing a good punch. We took them for granted since we beat them before. They came out and played hard. We chose not to play hard.

“So I tip my hat off to them because they came out and played with a lot of intensity. Even without their big guy, they didn’t back down one bit.”

MRH improved to 12-10 overall and 8-0 in conference action while Brentwood dropped its fourth consecutive game and fell to 7-10 and 3-5.

In the first matchup between these rivals, the Blue Devils routed the host Eagles by a 71-34 margin thanks to a relentless pressure defense. That never had a chance of happening on this night.

“We talked about if we could keep it close going into the fourth quarter then we would have an opportunity with a late push,” Brentwood head coach Brad Kern said. “We were down single digits late. So I was happy with our effort, but not happy with the outcome.”

Dan Lynch and the foul line were the main reasons Brentwood was able to hang around in the first half.

Lynch scored nine of his 11 points in the half while the Eagles stepped to the charity stripe 14 times alone during a foul-filled second quarter that forced MRH out of its man defense and into a zone.

“Dan was key. I think they took him for granted a little bit,” Kern said. “He was able to penetrate, pull up and knock down some big shots. Then we drew fouls on them and got to the line. We didn’t hit them at a very good clip, but we were able to get to the foul line for easy points.”

Jake Hensel and Khalid Hagens paced MRH in the opening 16 minutes, combining to score 21 of the team’s 33 first-half points. Hagens finished with 15 points and Hensel followed with 14.

The Blue Devils held a 33-22 advantage at the break, but Frazier wasn’t pleased with his team’s effort and performance. So Frazier conducted his halftime pep talk on the sideline instead of the locker room.

Brentwood began the third quarter by making its first two shots as Andrew Erby and Lynch made it a seven-point contest at 33-26.

MRH answered quickly answered with a three-pointer from Eric Liksa and a putback by Corey Frazier Jr. to push the lead out to 38-26.

But the Eagles responded once again with a 7-2 spurt that saw contributions from Rekardo Owens, Dee Edwards and Karvon Owens, who hit a driving layup to make it 40-33 midway through the third quarter.

“We talked about two things before the game,” Kern said. “One was rebounding. I know we were severely undersized without Amadou, but our guys battled hard on the boards. And the second thing we talked about is valuing the basketball.

“We wanted to spread the floor on them, attack off the dribble and kick it out if necessary. We did a pretty good job getting to the basket. For the most part, we minimized our mistakes and took good shots to keep us in the game.”

Fortunately for the Blue Devils, Taylor took over the game from that point forward.

The senior forward ignited MRH on a 10-3 run to close out the third quarter as Taylor scored six points during that stretch. That gave the Blue Devils a 50-36 lead.

Taylor made sure the upstart Eagles would not threaten the final outcome in the fourth quarter, tallying 11 of the team’s 17 points. He put an exclamation point on the victory with a conventional three-point play, capping his 19-point, eight-rebound performance.

“Marcus has been pulling at my coat tail about getting in the game the last few games,” Frazier said. “He got his opportunity tonight. That’s big having him do what he did out there scoring 19 points. He caught every pass and finished. That was key. I was impressed with his touch around the basket.”

Erby was the game’s high scorer with 20 points, including an 11-for-14 effort at the charity stripe. The Eagles converted 19 of 28 free throws.

Brentwood will try to end its four-game skid on the road against Christian-O’Fallon Thursday before returning home for senior night against Barat Academy Friday. On that same night, there will be an alumni game pitting players from the 1980s versus the 1990s starting at 4 p.m.

Meanwhile, MRH puts its unbeaten conference record on the line against Crossroads Friday night before traveling to Sikeston and facing Scott County Central at 1 p.m. Saturday.

BOX SCORE

BRENTWOOD (53) – Erby 4 11-14 20, Lynch 5 1-3 11, K. Owens 4 1-2 9, R. Owens 1 0-0 2, Edwards 1 0-0 3, W. Erby 1 5-7 7, Featherston 0 1-2 1. Totals 16 19-28 53.

MRH (67) – Hensel 5 4-4 14, King 1 2-2 4, Hagens 7 1-2 15, Debose 1 0-1 3, Spudich 2 1-4 5, Taylor 9 1-2 19, Frazier Jr. 2 0-0 4, Liksa 1 0-0 3. Totals 28 9-15 67.

BWD   8          14        14        17– 53

MRH   13        20        17        17 – 67

3-Pointers – Brentwood 2 (Erby, Edwards), MRH 2 (Dubose, Liksa). Rebounds – Brentwood 15 (Lynch 5), MRH 32 (Taylor 8). Turnovers – Brentwood 15, MRH 14. Fouls – Brentwood 18, MRH 21. Fouled Out – None. Records – Brentwood is 7-10 and 3-5 in the South Central Conference, Brentwood is 12-10 and 8-0.