CLARION, Pa. – Clayton Cook scored a game-high 17 points and led four Brookville players in double digits, as the Raiders claimed the District 9 Class 3A basketball title with a 63-37 win over Moniteau at PennWest Clarion’s Tippin Gym.
Rewatch the game
Cook scored 11 third-quarter points to help Brookville expand a 33-19 halftime lead into a 53-31 advantage going to the fourth quarter.
“I told our guys they (Moniteau) have five guys who can play, but our defense kind of helped shut them down,” said Brookville coach Dalton Park. “That’s important to establish that, you know, that you’ve got to work for every shot. That’s what we wanted to make them feel from the beginning.”
Noah Peterson added 13 points, including nine in a 21-point first quarter for Brookville, while Jack Pete had 12 points and eight rebounds and Conner Marshall 10 points.
“I felt like Moniteau wasn’t up to our pace,” Peterson said. “We like to start fast. Clayton was able to outlet the ball to me a couple of times and I was able to lay it in and was able to find a couple of guys in transition. It’s just good to get a start like that in a game like this.”
The win was extra special for the Raiders after not getting to play in a District 9 title game a season ago with no other entries in Class 3A.
“Last year we didn’t have this championship and the year before was the COVID year, so this was a first for us,” Cook said.
See Peterson and Cook’s full interview:
Thanks to Peterson and six points from Cook, who also had eight rebounds, Brookville, which has become accustomed to playing in big games in recent seasons, led 21-9 after a quarter.
“I thought our running early is what really set the tone,” Park said. “I thought they played very well together. It took us a long time to get that winning culture, and then once we got that winning culture, there was the playoff culture. And we just happened to have the right group of kids at that time when we were playing playoff basketball.
“Jace Miner (who helped lead the Raiders to the PIAA final in 2021) really helped work us into that. It’s a whole team effect, but his intensity on defense was impressive and it just fed to the whole team that helped lead us into playing these types of games.”
Watch Brookville’s medal ceremony:
Colton Thomas paced Moniteau with 16 points with Andrew Zepeda adding nine.
Brookville (20-2) moves into the PIAA District 5-8-9 subregional and will play Perry Traditional Academy (5-17) at 7 p.m. Friday at Brashear High School in Pittsburgh.
“I have fallen for we’re better than the other team before and we’re not going to fall for that,” Park said, referencing Perry’s record. “If anything, we’re going to try and do what we did today. And if we can’t, we’re going to need to play hard.”
BROOKVILLE 63, MONITEAU 37
Score by Quarters
Moniteau 9 10 12 6 – 37
Brookville 21 12 20 10 – 63
MONITEAU – 37
Conner Ealy 0 1-2 1, David Martino 0 0-0 0, Andrew Zepeda 4 1-2 9, Aydan Jackson 2 0-1 4, David Desicinno 3 0-0 6, Brendin Sankey 0 0-0 0, Colton Thomas 6 1-1 15, Landon Kelly 0 2-2 2, Dawson Cook 0 0-0 0, Conner Alfern0 0 0-0 0, Dylan Bush 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 5-8 37.
BROOKVILLE – 63
Isaac Hetrick 1 0-0 2, Kellan Haines 1 0-0 3, Noah Peterson 6 0-0 13, Jack Pete 6 0-0 12, Clayton Cook 7 3-4 17, Conner Marshall 5 0-0 10, Caleb Kornbau 2 0-0 4, Zayden Jordan 1 0-0 2, Jake Semeyn 0 0-0 0, Carter Mackins 0 0-0 0, Jerry McDermid 0 0-0 0, Wyatt Lucas 0 0-0 0. Totals 29 3-4 63.
Three-pointers: Moniteau 2 (Thomas 2). Brookville 2 (Haines, Peterson)
