Brunswick Overpowered Lakewood

Article by: Brent Bartchak

LAKEWOOD, OH- - The Brunswick Blue Devils were back in action Friday night at Lakewood High School to take on the Rangers (1-5, 0-3) in a Northeast Ohio Conference Valley Division matchup and ran away with a 70-41 victory. This was the Blue Devils first game since their 53-41 loss against Avon Lake in the Holiday Hoops Classic.

Brunswick didn’t get off to as quick of a start as they would have liked to, but center Pat Forsythe put the team on his back and scored all of the team’s 14 points in the first quarter. The Blue Devils were up 14-12 after the first quarter and that was as close as this game would get. This is what Forsythe said about getting off to his quick start, “It’s what I should have to do if their [the team] not hitting shots, then I have to be there to help them out.” In the second quarter the rest of the team caught up to the tempo that Forsythe set and this is when the Brunswick took control of the game. Zach Gresch brought a lot of intensity off of the bench in the first half and he finished the game with 11 points. It was great to see Gresch get fired up again because he has been in a small slump recently. “It was amazing, everything has been lifted off of my shoulders, it’s so great,” said Gresch. When Gresch gets hot, there is no one that can really stop him.

This victory was all about team effort. Everyone who stepped onto the court contributed to the win. Senior Ray J Brown played his best game of the season as he came off the bench and scored 6 points. This is the perfect time of the season to start seeing some of these players heating up as conference play is here. “We are versieng all the good teams now,” said Gresch. “It’s going to be more competitive. The coaches are going to be more competitive, the players are going to be more competitive, it’s going to be awesome.”

With this victory the Blue Devils improve to 6-3 on the season and 1-1 in the conference. Their next game is a very important conference matchup against Garfield Heights (8-0, 2-0) at home. This will be a great test for Brunswick to see where they stand in the NOC Valley Division.

Upcoming Games:
1/14/11 at home against Garfield Heights (8-0, 2-0)
1/21/11 at Elyria (7-2, 1-2)

Stats:
Badowski 2-0-6, Brown 2-2-6, Dunning 4-0-11, Forsythe 8-4-20, Gresch 4-0-11, Hartill 1-0-2, Jarvis 2-0-5, Ocacio 1-0-2, Suren 1-0-2, Wheeler 2-0-5

JV Score:
The Brunswick JV team won 48-41