WINDBER, Pa. – In a game where neither team was able to get into any type of real rhythm because of fouls, turnovers, and poor shooting, Brookville fought through to win its fourth subregional title in the last five years with a 50-39 win over District 5 champion Bedford Thursday night at Windber High School.
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“I don’t feel we played our best by any means,” Brookville head coach Dalton Park said. “We didn’t have any flow. Everyone just seemed a little off tonight, and it took away our flow. I credit them, maybe it was their defense. We just did not seem to have the flow we have had.”
Despite the issues on offense, Brookville led for the last 24:50 of the game after Noah Peterson gave the Raiders a 13-12 lead with 50.1 seconds left in the first quarter.
Peterson’s bucket started a 9-0 run for the Raiders that gave them a 20-12 lead following a Clayton Cook basket with 6:19 left in the first half.
But Bedford was able to hang around and was only down five, 25-20, at halftime.
A lot of that was a credit to Matt Edwards, who hit three first-half 3-pointers and scored 11 points in the half.
“No. 12 (Edwards) was the one that scared us,” Park said. “His shot is so quick, and he hit threes.”
But Brookville shut down Edwards in the second half not allowing the senior sharpshooter to score after halftime.
“Noah (Peterson) tightened up,” Park said. “I told Noah to play him like he had the ball the whole time. Noah stayed right on him instead of giving him any space. He didn’t let him have that extra space.”
The defense really was the key for the Raiders – again – as Brookville also shut down the Bisons’ leading scorer, Kevin Ressler holding him to a mere six points, 14 below his season average of 21.1 ppg.
“Jack (Pete) was all over him,” Park said. “He was to not go for steals and just stay between (Ressler) and the bucket and just make him beat him with straight-up shots. We basically put it in the hands of Ressler and were going to have Jack stay between him and not give him an easy shot.”
Pete said he had watched a lot of film on Ressler.
“I know he is a good player,” Pete said. “I just had to play my defense on him.”
With neither Ressler nor Edwards lighting up the scoreboard, Brookville was able to slowly put some distance between itself and Bedford in the second half using a 13-8 advantage in the third quarter to build the lead to 10, 38-28, going to the fourth quarter.
A basket by Cook with 1.2 seconds to play in the third quarter gave the Raiders the 10-point lead.
“We set up a play to look for Cookie,” Park said. “If we didn’t have it, we were going to kick it to Noah.”
Brookville got the lead to 12, 40-28, a minute-and-half into the fourth quarter on a driving layup by Isaac Hetrick.
Brookville’s students came out in droves despite the two-hour drive to Windber and got to celebrate the victory. Photo by Chris Rossetti
But Bedford didn’t flinch going on a 6-0 spurt that included four points from Dathan Hylton to get back within six, 40-34, on a basket by Jacon Wilson with 4:02 to play.
But Connor Marshall came up with a big basket on the other end, and Bedford went just 1 of 3 from the line over the next couple of minutes allowing the Raiders to go on a mini 8-1 spurt to put the game away.
“It feels great to win,” Pete said.
Watch Pete’s full postgame interview
Cook led Brookville with 14 points and seven rebounds with Peterson adding 11 points and Marshall 10 points … Kellen Haines also snagged eight boards to go with four points.
Brookville will face Seton LaSalle, the fifth-place finisher out of the WPIAL, in the opening round on Saturday, March 10, at a time to be announced. The game is supposed to be a home game for the Raiders.
NOTES: Neither team shot well … Brookville was 44.2% from the field, 19 of 43, while Bedford was 34.1% from the floor, 14 of 41 … The Raiders turned the ball over 15 times while the Bisons turned the ball over 12 times … There were also 35 fouls in the game, 18 on Bedford and 17 on Brookville … The Raiders outrebounded the Bisons 38 to 19 including 15 to 5 on the offensive glass … Bedford also advances to the PIAA playoffs and will play Steel Valley at Bedford.
