Brandywine ends Centreville's run
Everybody in the gym knew what Niles-Brandywine wanted to do.
Press. Trap. Speed the game up for Centreville.
It all worked as Brandywine got out to an early lead and ran away from the Bulldogs in a 58-35 win in the regional finals held at Coloma High School.
“We gave it our best shot, I’m really proud of the boys,” Centreville coach Matt Price said. “If we would have hit more shots earlier it would have helped, but I can’t be more proud of their run. Their run was excellent, I’m super, super proud of our guys and their effort.”
Centreville last played in a regional final in 1995, so this year’s team did make a bit of history by getting back to the Sweet 16, if you will, for the Division 3 ranks.
In Wednesday’s game, Brandywine ran the floor, caused havoc for Centreville the entire game and clearly set the pace. In the blink of an eye, the Bobcats caused a turnover and scored to open the contest.
The rest of the game was about as sour for Centreville.
“Those are unbelievable athletes. For the Class C level, that’s an awfully good basketball team,” Price said of Brandywine. “Their coaching is excellent, their kids are really talented. The scheme is even smarter. For the kids they have, they are a tough team to beat.”
The Bobcats quickly scored the opening six points of the game, forcing a Centreville timeout as the Bulldogs tried to get their bearings straight. Coming out of the timeout, it quickly avalanched into more problems for the Bulldogs.
Both Jaremiah Palmer and Michael Palmer connected with good looks around the rim. This helped Brandywine open up a lead of 17-0 before Centreville could even settle down in the contest. At that point, there was 1:13 remaining in the opening quarter.
In fact, the Bulldogs had only a handful of shot attempts in the first six minutes of the quarter. Then, Roman Robinson broke the ice for Centreville, hitting a tough shot to get the Bulldogs on the board.
The first quarter ended with Brandywine leading 19-2. Centreville was getting nothing going on the interior for the offense, Brandywine was controlling everything with its defense.
“We knew how good they were, it’s one fo those things where you scheme it and do your best,” Price said. “I had eight kids on the floor pressing our guys in practice and it’s still not that fast. They are very, very fast. It’s not even like they were overly physical or fouling, they’re just solid.”
Centreville did hit a couple of triples in the second quarter. Harrison Gregory and Robinson connected on those two shots, they were the only ones made by Centreville in the quarter.
Brandywine piled on 17 more points to its total in the second, Jaremiah Palmer and Jamier Palmer combined to score 12 of those. Brandywine’s lead at the break was 36-9.
By that point, the mountain for Centreville was too much to climb. But the Bulldogs still came out of the locker room and battled Brandywine as best they could. Robinson hit a couple of buckets in the third quarter, Gavin Bunning connected on a 3-pointer. Unfortunately, they just could not get any type of run built and trailed 48-16 entering the fourth quarter.
In that final eight minutes, Centreville posted 19 points, more than doubling its offensive output from the previous three quarters. Robinson had a couple of buckets in transition and Gregory hit another 3-pointer.
For the contest, Robinson led all scorers with 16 points. Bunning connected for eight, Gregory scored six. Both Brady Miller and Ben Truckenmiller scored two points, Micah Lemings hit a free throw.
Centreville was 7-of-11 from the line. Brandywine made 10-of-14.
Brandywine finished with three players in double figures, they were all Palmers — Jaremiah had 14, Michael had 12 and Jamier finished with 10.
Brandywine improved to 24-2 with the victory. The Bobcats advanced to the quarterfinals to play Pewamo-Westphalia, a 19-6 team, at Portage Central High School on Tuesday.
Centreville ended the season with a record of 18-8.
This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: Brandywine ends Centreville's run
