By Jake Thompson
Tri-West gave the No. 1-ranked Brownstown Braves all they could handle and more during the first round of Saturday’s boys’ basketball regional at Southridge High School.
Tri-West led 22-20 heading into the half, but Brownstown held off the Bruins for a 43-39 victory.
“We took the No. 1 team in the state to the very end,” Tri-west coach Adam Bontreger said. “It was a back and forth game the entire day between two evenly matched teams. It showed that Tri-West was one of the best 2A teams in the state this year even though we were not ranked at any time throughout the season.”
Bruin Andrew Keck led Tri-west with nine points in the first quarter before having to take a seat with foul trouble. Keck’s absence hurt Tri-West, especially in the post.
Defensively, Tri-West frustrated the Braves throughout the game with a 1-3-1 trap.
"That had been a staple of ours through this tournament run,” Bontreger said. “It really gave Brownstown a lot of fits and they had a hard time getting anything inside.”
Both teams traded the lead throughout the third, but with time expiring Brownstown’s Spencer Allman hit a 3-pointer with three Bruins on him from about 25 feet out.
“(Allman) threw up kind of a prayer and he hit that shot,” Bontreger said. “That put them up three and gave them a huge momentum boost.”
Brownstown led by as many as five points in the fourth, but Tri-West had its opportunities to tie or win the game at the end.
Down two with twenty-five seconds remaining, Bontreger called his last timeout to set up a play.
Bruin Randall Lowe shot two 3-pointers, but neither fell and Tri-West got off another shot to no avail. Brownstown grabbed a rebound with less than 10 seconds remaining
Tri-West immediately fouled and Brownstown hit its free throws, something the Bruins struggled with all night. The Bruins were 1-of-5 from the line in the fourth and 8-of-18 for the night.
“If it wasn’t for that we would have upset them and had a great opportunity to win a regional,” Bontreger said.
This season marked the third time in school history that the Bruins won a sectional title.
Lowe made history as well, becoming Tri-West’s all-time leading scorer and led the Bruins' late season run with fellow seniors Joe Pierle, Josh Pierle, Matt Moore, and Keck.
“It’s going to be hard to replace a guy like Randall, not only with his scoring, but especially his ball handling,” Bontreger said. “Our five seniors will definitely be missed, but I’m proud and happy for them that they got to experience a tournament run like this one.”
