Brooklyn, OH- On Monday night the Brooklyn Hurricanes welcomed in the Cardinal Huskies. This was the first game for Brooklyn high school coming off of a 12-12 season last year.
As for Cardinal, they had already won their first game of the season against West Geauga by three points. Senior guard Jake Bean led them in scoring last season at 16.7 points per game leading them to a 14-11 record.
Before the game started the home Brooklyn crowd was super rowdy cheering loudly as soon as their team broke onto the court for warm-ups. The fans were booing the opposing team’s starting lineup when it was called out, and they were screaming loudly when Brooklyn’s starting lineup was announced.
The tip was won by the Huskies and both teams missed their first shot of the game. Cardinal junior Troy Domen ran in transition, caught his defender with a pump-fake, and made a layup. Cardinal started the game with a 6-0 run before Brooklyn made a layup to get on the board.
At this point, Brooklyn was behind but started mounting a comeback. Brooklyn made back-to-back triples. The crowd was loud on a Brooklyn 2-on-1 fast break, but Troy Domen silenced the crowd when he blocked the ball out of bounds. At the end of the first, the score was 15-14 in favor of Cardinal. Considering Brooklyn came back down 10-2 with a 12-5 run, the fans were able to get into the game.
Brooklyn came out in the second with a made 3-pointer by Randall Fields which gave them the lead. Later in the quarter, Fields ran in transition after he stole the ball. On the next possession, he threw a full court pass to his man for an assist. Fields had also made a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer, causing the crowd to erupt. The quarter started on a 10-2 run for Brooklyn. The coach for Brooklyn got a technical foul after the Huskies Troy Domen got fouled on a 3-point shot giving him five free throws between the 3 point shot and tech which he converted. Randall Fields ended the quarter with thirteen points and at the end of the first half the Hurricanes led 32-29.
To start off the third quarter for Brooklyn, Fields drove into the lane for a layup and converted. Both teams began trading baskets as they converted shots at a high rate for a few minutes. Jacob Bean hit back-to-back triples in the same spot, as he got a nice pass in the left corner the first time, and again on the second three. He tied the game up at 39 a piece. Then Domen got a steal and made a layup to put the Huskies up by two.
Brooklyn were able to hit back-to-back triples of their own to go up by eight. After three quarters the Huskies Troy Domen had 20 points, but his team trailed 52-48. Jaiden Basinger had 16 points and Randall Fields had 18 for Brooklyn.
To start the 4th quarter Cardinal got a turnover on a bad Brooklyn pass that went out of bounds. Fields got a pick set for him on the left wing and scored in the lane to put Brooklyn up by six. The Hurricanes were able to get two offensive rebounds after two misses by Fields, and Santana Sammons was able to cash in from distance on their third shot of that possession.
Cardinal got back in the game with two minutes left trailing by two. With about two and a half minutes left Brooklyn's Jaiden Ramos got a putback layup and a foul. He converted this free throw and put Brooklyn up five. The crowd was incredibly loud at this point, and then got silent after Jake Bean hit an and-one of his own and brought Cardinal back within two. Sadly, Ethan Detweiler for Cardinal got hurt, causing the game to stop with one and a half minutes left. Fields got a traveling call with 28 seconds left, giving Cardinal a great chance to tie the game, but Bean stepped out of bounds giving the ball back to Brooklyn. Cardinal was forced to foul and Basinger made one of two free throws. Cardinal missed a 3-pointer at the end giving Brooklyn the 65-62 victory. Fields had 20 points for Brooklyn while Bean had 24 and Domen had 20 for the Huskies in a losing effort.
I caught up with Brooklyn's Randall Field's after the game to get his thoughts on the win.
This game recap is brought to you by Mar-Lou Shoes in Lyndhurst!
