Broncos win Pepsi-Cola/ Fifth Third Bank Holiday Classic
Monday, 05 January 2009
Photo: The Western Brown Broncos pose with their 2008 Pepsi-Cola/Fifth Third Bank Brown County Holiday Classic Championship Trophy.
By WADE LINVILLE Sports editor, The News Democrat
Backed by two straight double-double performances from Western Brown senior standout Tyler Morgan, the Broncos topped the competition at this year’s Brown County Holiday Classic Tournament to bring home their first Holiday Tournament crown since 2005.
After racking up 26 points and 17 rebounds in round one of this year’s tournament to lead the Broncos to a 65-47 victory over the Fayetteville-Perry Rockets, Morgan returned to the court the next night to lead the Broncos with 29 points and more than 11 rebounds in a 60-49 tournament finale win over the host Eastern Warriors. Morgan, a 6-5 forward, lit up the nets to score 17 points – six field goals and five-of-six from the charity stripe – in the fourth quarter at this year’s championship game. “He stepped up big time,” Western Brown head basketball coach Doug Williams said of Morgan’s performance in the Holiday Tournament. “He’s the best player in our league (Southern Buckeye Conference), I think. He plays hard every night and he’s one of the best kids you could ever coach. He amazes me every time he comes out and I think his upside is tremendous to play at the next level.” Following a very close first half that ended in a 22-19 Western Brown lead, the Broncos outscored the Warriors 12-6 in the third frame and 26-24 in the fourth quarter en route to a first place tournament finish Saturday night at Eastern High School. Size certainly played in Western Brown’s favor, as Morgan, 6-7 senior center Ethan Fite, 6-4 forward Greg Liming and 6-0 guard Taylor Garrett were among the Bronco seniors who provided the Broncos with exceptional play at this year’s tournament. But the Broncos’ size was no surprise to teams they faced at the Holiday Classic. “We have size. It’s no secret we’re going inside. We have Ethan (Fite) at 6-7 and Tyler (Morgan) who is our best player,” said Williams. “We were trying to get the ball inside, but at the beginning we weren’t doing a very good job. We took a couple of bad shots (early), and we knew it could happen like that. We either get a bucket quick and get going, or they do a good job. They scrap, they cause our guards problems like they (Warriors) did tonight. We started off kind of slow, but once we got Tyler (Morgan) going you could see what happened to our team.” It was a Warriors’ shower from three-point land early on in Saturday’s championship game, as Eastern’s Taylor Little and Clint Woollard landed back-to-back three’s to put Eastern on top 8-1 in the first two minutes. But the early Warriors’ run was short-lived, as Morgan pounded his way in the paint to drop in a bucket to cut the Eastern lead to five with 5:40 to go in the first frame. Another score by Morgan sliced the Warrior lead to 8-5, and Western Brown fans knew they were in for another astounding show put on by the 6-5 Western Brown senior. A few minutes later Morgan rebounded a Warriors’ miss, drove the length of the court and hammered down a dunk to make it 8-7, the Warriors still in the lead. Western Brown senior guard Travis Taylor managed to knot the game at eight by sinking one-of-two free throws after he was fouled on a shot. Garrett buried a three-pointer with two minutes to go in the first quarter to give the Broncos an 11-8 lead. After holding the Warriors scoreless in the next trip down the court, Fite rebounded a miss and hit the putback to give the Broncos a 13-8 lead. Eastern senior guard Tyler Knabb put a cap on the 12-0 Broncos’ run by sinking a buzzer beater three-pointer to end the first quarter. With one period in the books, the Broncos held a slight 13-11 lead. The second quarter was even closer than the first, as the Broncos outscored the Warriors 9-8 to venture to the lockerroom with a 22-19 halftime lead. Garrett led the way for the Broncos in the second period, firing in a shot from three-point land and one from inside the arc for five points in the frame. Liming sank one bucket to contribute with two points in the second frame, while Morgan ventured to the charity stripe once to connect one two-of-two attempts for two second quarter points. Little and Knabb held the hot hands for the Warriors early on, each racking up seven points in the first half. The Broncos were able to expand their lead in the third frame, with Liming draining a shot from three-point land, Morgan coming through with two scores from close range for four points, Fite coming through with three points and Garrett burying two free throws for two points. The Broncos executed well on the offensive end in the third frame against the Warriors’ aggressive full court defensive pressure, but it was tenacious half court defense and unrelentless rebounding by Western Brown that set the Warriors back by nine points. Only two Warriors came through with scores in the third frame against the Broncos’ defense. Knabb shot for four points in the third, sinking a field goal and connecting on two-of-two attempts from the foul line. Senior forward Jordan Cierley also contributed with a bucket for the Warriors in the third. Morgan’s performance in the final quarter kept many Bronco fans on their feet for much of the remaining minutes. Morgan garnered his first fourth quarter bucket from close range with seven minutes to play to put the Broncos up 36-27. Just more than 30 seconds later, Morgan took the in-bounds pass after a Warriors’ score and drove straight to the basket for a score, drawing a foul in the process. Morgan connected on his shot from the foul line to finish off the old fashioned three point play, but the skilled senior was far from finished when it came to sinking buckets. Fite came up with a steal to hold the Warriors scoreless in their next trip down the court and you can guess who the Broncos looked to for their next score. Morgan took a nice pass in the paint from Fite, muscled up a score and drew a foul in the process. After finishing off another old fashioned three-point play, giving the Broncos a 13 point lead. Aggressive defense by the Broncos held the Warriors scoreless once again, and Morgan raced up the court for a score on transition to put the Broncos up 44-29 with 5:31 to go in the fourth. The Warriors struggled for good looks at the basket early in the fourth against Western Brown’s line of trees, but eventually they did heat up a bit. Woollard busted a three-pointer from the side to cut the Broncos lead back to 13 points midway through the fourth frame, but Morgan was quick to retaliate, knocking down a jumpshot to restore a 15 point Western Brown lead. Little then drove in the paint for a Warriors’ score to make it 47-34, Western Brown leading. With 3:29 to go, Morgan took a trip to the foul line to sink the front end of the one-and-one, putting the Broncos up by 14. The Bronco lead was reduced to 10 points after Little connected on a nice drive and spin move to the basket with under three minutes to go. But the hopes of a late game Eastern rally were quickly dwindling away, as Morgan was practically scoring at will. A nice dish from Western Brown sophomore Dylan Dawson to Morgan for an easy score put the Broncos up 50-38 with just over two minutes to go. Down by 12 and working against the clock, the Warriors had little choice but to use up some fouls and make the Broncos prove themselves from the charity line. Fite struggled from the foul line early in the fourth quarter, but came through with the game on the line to finish seven-of-10 from the free throw line in the fourth. Morgan dominated in the paint to sink six field goals in a high scoring fourth quarter, which included two three-point plays. In his first year as a varsity basketball coach, Williams was very pleased to see his Broncos bring the Holiday Tournament Title back to Western Brown and the tournament win will provide his crew of talented players with the confidence they need when carrying on with league play at the turn of the new year. “It makes me feel real good as a head coach,” Williams said of the tournament win. “As the biggest school (in Brown County) I expect to come in here (to the Holiday Tournament) and compete very well.” Garrett and Morgan were both named to the Brown County Holiday Classic All-Tournament Team for their outstanding performances in the wins over the Fayetteville-Perry Rockets and the Eastern Warriors. “It was a good night for us,” said Williams. Scoring 55 points in the two-game tournament, Morgan was only one point shy of breaking the record for the most points in a single Brown County Holiday Tournament, a record set in 2000 by Eastern’s Kyle Stout who scored 56 points.
Brown County Pepsi-Cola/ Fifth Third Holiday Classic Tournament Championship (Western Brown vs. Eastern) Western Brown 13 9 12 26 – 60 Eastern 11 8 6 24 – 49
Western Brown (60) – Morgan 11 7-8 29, Taylor 0 1-2 1, Garrett 3 4-4 12, Boggs 0 0-2 0, Liming 2 0-2 5, Fite 2 9-16 13. TOTALS – 18 21-34 60. Eastern (49): Woollard 2 0-0 6, Knabb 6 2-2 17, Cierley 3 3-4 9, Little 6 4-4 17. TOTALS – 17 9-10 49. 3-POINTERS: EHS (Knabb 3, Woollard 2, Little); WBHS (Garrett 2, Liming). Brown County Holiday Classic Round One (Western Brown vs. Fayetteville-Perry)
Brown County Holiday Classic Preliminaries (Western Brown vs. Fayetteville-Perry) Western Brown 18 16 23 8 – 65 Fayetteville 10 12 16 9 – 47
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