Christian Brusman’s had a hard-earned 18 points full of high-difficulty mid-range jumpers, and a pair of threes. (Press Pros Feature Photos By Julie McMaken Wright)
Troy Christian’s net-snapping jumpers guided them past Jackson Center in the Regional semifinals. Parker Penrod dropped 22 and Christian Brusman scored 18 on the way to a 57-47 win. The Eagles move on to face Russia with a trip to state on the line.
Kettering, Oh – Batman has Robin, Sherlock Holmes has Dr. Watson, Han Solo has Chewbacca. But Parker Penrod doesn’t have just one sidekick … he’s got at least three.
Alan Brads is a journalism student at Cedarville University, and writes sports at large for Press Pros.
In the Regional semifinals Christian Brusman took the reins as star player 1B, scoring 18 alongside Penrod’s 22 in a 57-47 win over Jackson Center.
“It’s huge to know I’m never doing it alone,” Penrod said. “One through five anyone on this team can launch a three and anyone can attack the rim. We trust each other.”
Brusman’s 18, was a hard-earned 18 full of high-difficulty mid-range jumpers, and a pair of threes of his own.
“It felt so great,” Brusman said about playing the role of first mate in such a big moment. “I love my guys. We seniors have been together since fifth grade playing ball. So we know how to play together. I couldn’t have done it without them.”
The gutsy win full of impressive offensive efficiency bought the Eagles a berth to Friday’s Regional final against the Runnin’ Russia Raiders, who walloped Fisher Catholic in their Regional semi.
Parker Penrod led all scorers with his 22, including a pair of 3 pointers.
Buckle your seatbelt, with Troy Christian and Russia involved, the game could reach mach speed.
“Our mentality this postseason is just that we’re not gonna lose,” Penrod said. “We’re not gonna get beat. This group of seniors, we don’t wanna step out on that court one last time unless it’s the state finals.”
That mentality worked well enough tonight.
Penrod led all scorers with his 22, including a pair of 3 pointers that sparked the Eagles’ fiery start.
“We knew Lucas Heitkamp is a great defender,” Head Coach Ray Zawadzki said. “So we told Parker to go ahead and attack early and often and just try to see if we could get him in a rhythm.”
The pair also combined for a respectable 10/14 from the nail. Most of those came in the final two minutes as the pair of guards put the proverbial nail into Jackson Center’s coffin.
The Eagles shot well from just about everywhere, draining 76% of their 2 pointers and 41% from three.
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“A lot of that comes from people making good passes and getting the ball to shooters at the right time in the right place,” Zawadzki said.
Alex Free exemplified that what Zawadzki calls his “equal opportunity offense” dropping three spectacular dimes into the paint for buckets. Free has spent plenty of time at the forefront of the revolving door of trusty sidekicks, but often excels as much or better when he’s doing the dirty work, like leading the team in rebounds as he did tonight. Still he managed to score eight with his signature slashes and spins into the lane.
Frank Rupnik blocks the shot of JC’s Reed Platfoot.
Frank Rupnik, the most common sidekick this year, though at times he veered into the lane of the main hero, didn’t stand out in the points column tonight, but he did important work. He held the opposing 6’6” Reed Platfoot to 10 points on 40% shooting, subpar for the ever efficient Platfoot.
The sharpshooting Eagles’ sprinted to a double digit lead by the early second quarter. That lead never dwindled below six, nor surpassed 12 the rest of the evening. The teams traded buckets and stops until the scoreboard showed zeroes.
In the first half Jackson Center’s Trever Huber was the only thing standing between the Tigers and a blowout loss. He scored 12 of their 23 points, willing his team to just a seven-point deficit at intermission.
The typically stellar Platfoot scored just three in the first half on what was an all-around tough shooting night for him from every spot on the floor.
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The seven-point margin ballooned to 12 just moments into the third, and stayed between 10 and 12 for nearly the entire period. As Troy Christian locked down on Huber, guards Lucas Hartle and Lucas Heitkamp stepped up to the plate and swung with decent efficiency, but not enough consistency or volume to keep pace with TC.
Huber finished with 14, Heitkamp with 12, Hartle with 11 and Platfoot with 10. Neither team got any points from the bench.
Alex Free floats two in for the win over JC.
In the fourth the lead wavered back and forth from six to 10 points, but Jackson Center never could find a foothold solid enough to climb into a more threatening position.
Leading 48-40 the Eagles inbounded with 2:55 to play, and played keepaway for over a minute until the Tigers had no choice left but to start playing the foul game.
Brusman and Penrod didn’t miss enough from the stripe to ever let the Tigers smell blood again, and the Eagles prevailed 57-47 to the tune of thunderous applause from their painfully bright neon green clad fans.
Tournaments are ruthless events – they make losers of nearly everyone. But the Tigers have plenty to hold their head high about.
First and foremost they won a district title in Head Coach Aaron Klopfenstein’s first year at the helm.
“I’m really proud of our guys’ willingness to persevere,” Klopfenstein said. “We started 0-3 and they coulda cashed it in or headed in a different direction, but they stepped up to it. Our four seniors set the tone with that and they wanted to establish their legacy at Jackson Center. They did that by winning a district championship.”
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Even in their exit tonight they went toe to toe with The Div. IV #4 team in the state, didn’t allow any gut-punching scoring runs that TC feeds off of, and had a real chance to win until the waning moments. Nearly everybody has to go out, and all things considered, that’s a darned respectable way to go out.
“Our guys were very gritty tonight,” Klopfenstein said. “Even when we got down ten they kept crawling back and scratching back and they gave themselves a chance late.”
Christian Brusman attempting to block a JC shot.
The region so often runs through the Shelby County League, and this year is no exception, nor was last year. A year ago Russia toppled Troy Christian in the Regional Semifinals. Just two and a half months ago the Raiders boat raced the Eagles in a 64-39 affair.
“Russia is a very special basketball team,” Zawadzki said. “They can get you from so many different places.”
Troy Christian loves to play with tempo, but nobody runs like Russia.
“They love to pressure,” Brusman said. “But if we can withstand their pressure and play good defense we’ll be fine.”
The Eagles have lost just six games in the last two seasons, but three of those six came at the hands of Russia.
Zawadzki said their goal was to win the conference, win the district, and give themselves a shot to get to state. That makes them 3/3. In some sense, they’re playing with house money now.
“I believe in my kids,” Zawadzki said. “I believe they’re gonna give me 32 minutes on Friday night and we’ll just see if it’s good enough.”
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