'It is 100% deserving': Bruskotter highlights Shelby's sectional title by joining 1,000-point club

MADISON TOWNSHIP — When Shelby's Alex Bruskotter walked out of the huddle to start the fourth quarter, he had no clue how many career points he had under his belt.

It could have been 1 or 1,000 for all he cared. He was just ready to put a slow first three quarters behind him and close out a Division II sectional championship win. He did exactly that with 10 of his game-high 24 points in the fourth quarter of the Whippets' 70-48 victory over Ontario.

But something even more special happened as his layup in the lane with 3:28 left in the game made him the sixth member of the Shelby boys basketball 1,000-point club, joining Larry Siegfried (1,798), TJ Pugh (1,460), Josh Ingle (1,255), Garrett Arnold (1,070) and Davey Hipp (1,047).

What is even more impressive is he is the only player to reach the milestone during his junior season.

"It is all that work he puts in," Shelby coach Greg Gallaway said. "It is 100% deserving. He has earned everything he has, so I am very proud of him."

Bruskotter didn't even know the exact number he needed to reach in Friday's game to take home the milestone and he didn't want to either. But he sure is glad to get it out of the way so he can focus on the No. 1 goal he set out for himself as a youngster.

"To be honest, when I was a kid I always went to the state tournament with my dad and friends, so when I was growing up my only true goal was to get there one day as a player," Bruskotter said. "But 1,000 points was never really my goal coming into high school, but it is pretty cool."

To be mentioned with those players is also something he will cherish.

"My guy (Shelby assistant coach) Davey (Hipp) is in that club and obviously Larry Siegfried makes it very cool to be mentioned along those names," Bruskotter said. "To be compared to them is surreal."

The Warriors kept things close through three quarters, cutting Shelby's lead to nine twice near the end of the third, but the Whippets pulled away in the fourth with an 18-7 advantage in the final eight minutes.

"Once you get that nine to a six or a seven, it does some weird things," Ontario coach Tim Mergel said. "When it goes from three possessions down to two, it makes it interesting, but we just couldn't get over the hump. We had some empty possessions and a missed free throw, but we just couldn't string stops together in the fourth."

It was a far cry from last Friday when the Warriors lost 74-43 to Shelby in the regular-season finale. Mergel saw a different level of focus this time around.

"I could tell yesterday during our film session, guys were more locked in," Mergel said. "I don't think they were very pleased with how they performed the last time against Shelby. We felt like we made them uncomfortable, which we didn't do the first two times we played them. We gave ourselves a shot."

The Warriors certainly did give themselves a shot despite a tough first quarter in which they didn't score their first points until there were two minutes left. They still only trailed 16-6 at the end of one, but that deficit took a lot of energy to overcome.

"I thought we just played harder," Mergel said. "That first quarter put us behind the 8-ball. We were missing shots at the rim and wide-open 3s and we dug ourselves a hole. But going into a game like this, we felt like if we could keep it around 10 heading into the fourth we at least gave ourselves a shot, but I think we just ran out of gas. We looked very tired at the end.

"I don't know what more these kids could have done because I thought they played pretty darn good."

Ontario (13-11) was led by Carter Weaver with 13 points while Grady Schroeder added 12 and Brady Zehe had nine. The Warriors were without their two top scorers, Braxton Hall (ankle injury) and Gage Weaver (suspension for ejection), so to give Shelby a game for the better part of three quarters was a small victory.

But, they do say goodbye to Hall, Gage Weaver and Jayden Leach, who all played their final game at Ontario as seniors.

"We had three of them and, unfortunately tonight, we had to play without two of them and I hate that they didn't get to play their last game," Mergel said. "But they did a nice job for us all year. It is a group that took me in last year and accepted who I am and where I was from and they put in the work every day. To get double-digit wins and finish over .500, I am very proud of them."

Shelby (20-3) recorded a 20-win season for the second time in three years and did it by winning all but one quarter on Friday night.

"I thought we did a good job of executing in the half-court on defense," Gallaway said. "We settled in and got some big rebounds, and then on the offensive end we got some layups. That was the big thing. I am happy with how we executed by shooting 60%. It is tournament time, you will take any win."

The Whippets made 27 of 45 shot attempts from the field and 14 of 22 free throws. They handed out 18 assists as a team and recorded 10 steals and turned Ontario over 14 times, scoring 13 points off TOs. Bruskotter led the way with 24 points, while Casey Lantz added 13, Max Hess 10 and Bryson Baker nine.

Bruskotter's performance in the fourth quarter was exactly what Gallaway was hoping to see out of his All-Ohio junior, and it is something he hopes to see plenty more as the Whippets head to the district tournament to play Lexington, which beat Willard 58-56 Friday, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Ashland High School.

"Alex has had a great year, and as a junior it is crazy to see how much he has progressed from his sophomore year to his junior year," Gallaway said. "He has matured so much with the way he handles the ball for us. He gets the four other guys dialed in. He helped us finish this game, and we are going to need him to do that more down the stretch."

Bruskotter was happy to help his team just come away with a tournament victory. Nothing more, nothing less.

"I didn't think I was playing well throughout the game and I didn't even know how close I was to 1,000," he said. "Some people were telling me I was close, but I didn't want to know because I felt like even if I didn't want to I would start playing for it. But I knew Ontario was hanging around and kept it close in the third so I just wanted to go out and put the game away."

Now that the tournament jitters are out of the way after the Whippets took the first-round bye, Gallaway is ready to see his team take the next step next week.

"It is nice because some teams talk about not taking the bye so they can play a game and get into tournament mode quicker, and that is always what makes me nervous because we had an entire week of practice and Ontario just played a couple of days ago," Gallaway said. "It is nice to see us settle in and hopefully we can build off of tonight."

jfurr@gannett.com

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Twitter: @JakeFurr11

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Bruskotter highlights Shelby's sectional title by joining 1,000-point club