Euclid, Ohio - The District final matchup between Brush and Walsh Jesuit took place at “Doc” Daugherty Gymnasium in Euclid.
Walsh would leave Euclid as District champs with a 49-43 win.
Brush came out controlling the game early as they forced numerous Walsh Jesuit turnovers.
It would take a few minutes before Sean Spicer would knock down the first three of the game giving Walsh a 5-2 lead.
This would be immediately answered by a Caleb Burge three.
A couple of minutes would pass by before Ruel Tomlinson would make an instant impact for Walsh as he came in and knocked down a three. He followed it up with another huge 3 point play.
The quarter would end with a three point shootout as Marlon knocked down 2 in a row.
Zach Halligan then ended the quarter with a buzzer beating three pointer which left the score 18-13 with Walsh leading.
The second quarter started out with buckets from Brush’s Caleb Burge and Robert Mcfarren.
It wouldn’t be long before Ruel Tomlinson made an instant impact as he hit another three to give Walsh a 23-15 lead.
About halfway through the quarter Walsh went into a zone which helped them string together a couple of defensive stops.
A few possessions later Marlon Barnes would get on the board. His jump shot cut Walsh’s lead to 27-19 with two minutes to go.
Barnes would then follow that up with a huge three pointer at the buzzer to end the quarter.
Walsh led at the half 29-22.
Brush came out of the half strong starting with a pair of and ones from Tyler Williams and Damari Dammons.
Those baskets were answered by a three from Sean Spicer. Ruel got a bucket of his own which gave Walsh a 36-28 lead without about 4 minutes to go.
After a couple of stagnant possessions, some ending in turnovers Aliyy King got going for the Arcs as he closed out the quarter with back to back buckets.
Walsh led 38-32 going into the fourth.
The fourth quarter started out with both teams trading buckets. Aliyy King eventually would score a huge one for brush cutting Walsh’s lead to 39-37 going into a timeout.
Fresh out the timeout Caleb Burge would knock down two free throws to tie the game at 39.
Walsh wasted no time striking back as Max Matta converted a three point play with about 2 minutes left.
Barnes got himself to the free throw line and hit two free throws cutting the lead to 42-41 with about 1:30 to go.
This would be the beginning of the end as Walsh put the game away with seven free throws ending with Zach Halligan’s being the last.
The final score would be 49-43 as Walsh Jesuit took home the win. Marlon Barnes had a game high 14 for Brush, Caleb Burge added 11. Ruel Tomlinson would lead Walsh Jesuit with 12 followed by Zach Halligan’s 11.
When asked about his team’s mindset coming into this matchup Tomlinson said,
“We know we just had to lock in on their two scorers,Tyler and Marlon. And we just had to out rebound them and play good on defense.”
Walsh Head Coach Kevin Byrne also touched on their rebounding as he said,
“We rebound hard all the time, that's kind of what we do.”
Walsh will be in action against Stow at Kent State on March 8th.
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