Brookhaven pulls away from Parklane for road win
Southern Sports & Travel, By Darron Thomas
Senior Brock Smith poured in 19 points to lead the Class AA 4th ranked Brookhaven Cougars to a 46-37 win over Class AAA Parklane Academy last night in McComb.
Parklane got out to an early 5-0 lead in a slow paced first quarter of play. Brookhaven would not get on the board until the 3:09 mark of the quarter when Zac Smith drained a 3-pointer from the wing. Smith then served up an assist to Gage Posey on Brookhaven’s next possession to knot the contest up at 5-5. Brookhaven would take their first lead of the night as Smith recorded another assist, this time to Brock Smith, at the 2:21 mark to give the Cougars a 7-5 advantage. The squads would enter into the second quarter tied up at 9-9.
(Above) Gage Posey (#11) of Brookhaven with a soft floater in the lane in the 3rd quarter
Brookhaven quickly took a 15-9 lead as both Brennan Miller and Gage Posey drilled 3-pointers from the wings but Parklane would stay close as the Pioneers got baskets from Brady Lea and Tyler Stutzman in the paint and a Justin Brent free throw to pull to within one point at 15-14 with 3:29 left in the half.
Brookhaven then produced a 7-2 run to finish the half. All 7 points came by way of senior Brock Smith who canned a jump hook in the paint, hit on 3 of 4 free throws and pulled down an offensive rebound and scored to propel the Cougars to a 22-16 halftime cushion.
Parklane opened the third quarter with an 11-5 run to take a 27-26 lead, their first since 5-3, but Brookhaven yet again finished the quarter strong as Matthew Evans hit two free throws, Brock Smith scored on an offensive rebound plus one and Zac Smith canned a 3-pointer from the corner with 3 seconds remaining to finish off an 8-0 run and take a 34-27 lead into the final quarter of play.
Justin Brent’s driving basket to open the final quarter pulled Parklane to within five points at 34-29 but the Pioneers would get no closer as Brookhaven capitalized on offensive rebounding and Parklane turnovers down the stretch.
(Above) Brock Smith (#3) of Brookhaven drives the baseline in the 4th quarter
Brock Smith’s lay-in at the 1:39 mark of the final quarter gave Brookhaven their biggest lead of the night at 46-35.
Smith led all scorers with 19 points, Gage Posey added 9 and Brennan Miller, Matthew Evans and Zac Smith had 6 each.
Brookhaven improves to 3-1 and will host Silliman on Thursday night.
Parklane was led by Spencer Remley with 8 points, Justin Brent added 7, Seth Travis and Tyler Stutzman 6 each, Phillip Strawn and Brady Lea 4 each and Zach Stutzman 2.
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