Boys basketball: Keystone puts defending LCL champion Brookside on notice with league-opening thumping

LAGRANGE — It's extremely early in the season but Keystone may have sent a loud message Friday night in its Lorain County League opener against defending champion Brookside. The young Wildcats, who started a freshman and two sophomores, rolled out to a 22-point lead and held off one last gasp from the Cardinals in a 57-42 win. Rebounding and defense were the difference. "They can shoot it," Keystone coach Jeff Holzhauer said of Brookside. "So dangerous. I kept telling the kids, 'They're one run away. You gotta keep going.'" The Wildcats (2-0) went on an 11-0 run to open a 43-20 lead near the end of the third quarter but senior Nolan Waechter hit back-to-back 3-pointers to end the quarter. That rally continued into the final quarter. Waechter, Brookside's all-time career scoring leader, finished with 19 points but shot just 7-of-22. Keystone pushed Brookside's shooters beyond their range, particularly early. The Cardinals did manage to make one run that narrowed the deficit to just 47-40 with 3:17 still to play but Keystone righted itself to finish the game on a 10-2 run. "We came into this game really positive," said freshman Colt Cowling, who led Keystone with 23 points. "Our coach set us up perfectly in practice. He was on us all week. We all really wanted this one. I think we did pretty good." Pretty good is an understatement. Cowling belied his age with some veteran moves to the basket. He also passed the ball well and had 10 rebounds. The Wildcats swamped Brookside (0-3) on the boards, 54-30. "That's a testament to his parents," Holzhauer said of Cowling. "To Jordan Beard (Oberlin assistant), who's been training him since third grade, and I've coached him since third grade. I'll take a little credit, too. He's just been in the gym." The rebound advantage came as a team focus. Sophomore Brendan Hagerman led with 12 while sophomore Liam Goran had 10 and Cowling and senior Logan Nagle each had nine. Junior Emory Fedor had eight. "That's effort," Brookside coach Larry Babics said. "That's the biggest key in rebounding. If you're going to make Liam and the freshman miss shots, you can't let them clean it up. They murdered us on the boards." Keystone poured in 19 two-pointers to just six for Brookside, which lives and dies from the 3-point arc. Friday, the Cardinals hit eight 3-pointers but it took 34 shots to get them. For the game, Brookside made only 23 percent from the floor. Was it just an off-night for the Cardinals or was Keystone that effective on the defensive end? "I think it was a combination," Holzhauer said. "For years and years and years when we really prided ourselves on really playing defense, guess what nobody really did against us? They never made shots. They would always shoot poorly. "There's a reason why teams shoot poorly. If you're getting kick-outs and wide-open shots and you're missing them, that's one thing. That's not what they were getting." One area of concern for Holzhauer going forward could be taking care of the basketball. Keystone turned it over 18 times to just six for Brookside. "Give Keystone's defense credit," Babics said. "We lost this game Tuesday night against North Olmsted. We don't work hard enough. I told them (Thursday) in my 30 years of coaching it was almost the first time I kicked them out of practice. I wanted to teach them a lesson, let them figure it out." Contact Tim Gebhardt at (440) 329-7135 or timothygeb@msn.com. Keystone 57, Brookside 42 &emsp;&emsp; BROOKSIDE (42): Nolan Waechter 7-0-19, Mason Waechter 3-0-9, Marquis Capers 0-1-1, Jack Holman 4-3-11, Jayden Nazario 0-2-2, Anthony Robinson 0-0-0, Alwx Arra 0-0-0, Dominic Lundberg 0-0-0, Tyler Kitzberger 0-0-0. Totals 14-6-42. KEYSTONE (57): Liam Goran 3-1-7, Brendan Hagerman 2-0-4, Zach Shackelford 1-3-5, Emory Fedor 2-1-5, Colt Cowling 8-6-23, Logan Nagle 2-0-4, Karter Urig 3-2-9, Bobby Gurich 0-0-0, Ryan Younglas 0-0-0. Totals 21-13-57. Brookside &emsp;&emsp;11 7 8 16&emsp;—&emsp;42Keystone &emsp;&emsp;17 15 11 14&emsp;—&emsp;57 Three-point goals: Brookside 8-34 (N. Waechter 5, M. Waechter 3), Keystone 2-6 (Cowling, Urig). Field goals: Brookside 14-60 (23 percent), Keystone 21-50 (42 percent). Free throws: Brookside 6-12 (50 percent), Keystone 13-23 (56.5 percent). Rebounds: Brookside 30 (Holman, Nazario 6), Keystone 54 (Hagerman 12). Turnovers: Brookside 6, Keystone18. Fouls: Brookside 20, Keystone 15. Fouled out: Shackelford. Junior varsity: Brookside, 61-50