×

Girard wins at home over Brookfield

Tribune Chronicle / Marc Weems Austin Claussell (2) of Girard gets past Brookfield’s Noah Harnett.

GIRARD — Behind a strong performance from Austin Clausell and Anthony Backus, Girard defeated Brookfield, 59-47, Friday night in an All-American Conference Blue Tier game.

Brookfield (0-8, 0-4) started out quick as it got out to a 6-2 lead but that didn’t last for long as Girard (4-6, 1-3) immediately went on a 10-0 run. The Indians led 12-8 after the first quarter.

“We can’t scoreboard watch. We can’t watch the scoreboard all the time. The game got away from us and they got more physical with us than we anticipated,” Brookfield coach Shawn Hammond said. “There were one or two possession that if it doesn’t happen on offense, they can go the other way. It gets away from us.”

In the second quarter, Girard increased its lead as Claussell scored seven of his game-high 17 points in the quarter. Girard led 29-17 at the half.

“We have Liberty on Tuesday and we have to get that win. We started off 0-3 in conference and coach has been hard on us. We just have to get it done,” Claussell said.

Tribune Chronicle / Marc Weems Gage Emery (35) of Brookfield closes in on Girard’s Anthony Backus during the Indians’ 59-47 win over the Warriors at Girard.

The third quarter is where Girard extended its lead and took control of the game. The Indians started the quarter on a 10-2 run to get out to a 39-19 lead.

“It was important to win, especially a home conference game. We need to build up some momentum. We continue to lose one, win one, lose one and win one. We need to find a way to build on the momentum of winning games,” Girard coach Craig Hannon said.

Girard led 49-28 after three quarters. Backus and Claussell and Christian Graziano combined for 13 of Girard’s 20 third-quarter points. Graziano finished with 11 points.

“Every possession is key and important. Boxing out is key to the game of basketball. All the little things matter in games. We’ve lost a few games because of bad free throwing shooting. All the little things matter,” Backus said.

For Brookfield, Haden Gibson had 14 points while Nate Smoot had 12 points.

“A lot of this stuff is game experience for these guys. We have a sophomore group that is used to playing with each other and then two seniors that aren’t. We have a mix of guys that don’t have a lot of time together. This is only my staff’s second year with this group,” Hammond said.

Hammond said that despite the losses, his seniors are important to the program’s future success.

Brookfield now faces Lakeview on the road on Tuesday, the same night Girard visits neighborhood rival Liberty.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
     

COMMENTS

[vivafbcomment]

Starting at $4.85/week.

Subscribe Today