Boys basketball: Brookside blows past Columbia once its shots start falling

COLUMBIA STATION — All Brookside needed was one shot to go through and it was off to the races. Jayden Nazario took the Cardinals to hyper speed with three threes in the opening two minutes of the second quarter and Brookside shot its way to an 83-59 Lorain County League win over Columbia on Friday. "When I first saw my shot go in, it felt pretty good," said Nazario, who scored all 13 of his points in the second quarter. "Then the second shot, I was like, 'OK, I'm just going to keep it going.' All credit to my teammates just finding me knowing I was on. When we score fast our defense picks up. We get the energy going. Our defense was good tonight, but we can always be better." The Raiders (3-1, 2-1 LCL) took advantage of seven Brookside turnovers in the first quarter, stringing together a 12-6 run that had them leading 14-12 by the end of the period. Dylan Fisher had back-to-back jumpers while Carter Hess and Jacob Reust added a pair of 3-pointers during the run. Brookside (2-3, 2-1) cleaned things up considerably, turning the ball over only twice during the next two quarters while forcing the Raiders into nine and outscoring them 58-31 during that span. The Cardinals opened the third with four 3-pointers, three by Nazario and another by Nolan Waechter, who finished with a game-high 22 points on 5-of-11 shooting from 3-point range. His brother, Mason, finished with 21 points, going 7-of-12 from 3-point range to tie Nolan's school record for most threes in a game. "We went out and played as a team," said Nolan Waechter, who came off the bench two minutes in when Brookside did a full line swap, a strategy the Cardinals employed throughout the game. "It was different (coming off the bench), but when you're hitting shots, your defense is there. And when we're not hitting shots, our defense slips. So to hit shots is a big thing." Brookside also did a good job rebounding, winning the battle 31-27, but Columbia's 6-foot-4 center Justin Smith still found a way to grab seven boards to go with 11 points. Sophomore Marquis Capers did a good job matching up with Smith, tying him for the game high with seven rebounds to go with eight points. Jack Holman also added 10 points off the bench for the Cardinals. "Marquis is an all-around player, but he's very unselfish," Brookside coach Larry Babics said. "He knows he's got scorers all around him and he wants that defensive challenge. He was basically like, 'I got him, coach,' and I was like, 'OK, (Smith's) a load, handle him.' We helped a little bit. Marquis did a great job on him. It wasn't just the one-on-one, we pinched a little bit, but if you give their shooters a little room they're going to bury you." Once Brookside regained the lead early in the second quarter, Columbia couldn't mount a run to close the gap. The Cardinals used a 12-4 run to push their lead past 20 points and kept Columbia at bay for the duration of the game. Logan Menge led Columbia in scoring with 13 points. "They started making a lot of tough, contested shots," Columbia coach Josh Scharf said of the Cardinals. "I don't know if Mason or Nolan missed in that second quarter. They were deep threes, contested threes. They're just good shooters. When they're shooting the ball that well, there's not a whole lot you can do. We have to be very critical of ourselves on film, what can we do better defensively." Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X. Brookside 83, Columbia 59 BROOKSIDE (83): Jayden Nazario 5-0-13, Alex Arra 1-0-2, Anthony Robinson 0-0-0, Mason Waechter 7-0-21, Marquis Capers 3-2-8, Noah Adkins 0-0-0, Nolan Waechter 7-3-22, Zach Terrill 1-0-2, Jack Holman 4-2-10, Tyler Kitzberger 1-0-2, Ethan Blythe 1-0-3, Noah Muniz 0-0-0. Totals 30-7-83. COLUMBIA (59): Logan Menge 6-0-13, Carter Duley 3-0-6, Dylan Fisher 3-0-7, Carter Hess 2-2-7, Justin Smith 3-5-11, Jacob Reust 3-0-8, Jack Washburn 2-0-5, Graham Ross 1-0-2, Vaughn Wagner 0-0-0. Totals 23-7-59. Brookside 12 27 31 13 — 83Columbia 14 13 18 14 — 59 Three-point goals: Brookside 16-34 (Mason Waechter 7, Nolan Waechter 5, Nazario 3, Blythe), Columbia 6-25 (Reust 2, Fisher, Hess, Menge, Washburn). Field goals: Brookside 30-59 (51 percent), Columbia 23-63 (37 percent). Free throws: Brookside 7-9 (78 percent), Columbia 7-8 (88 percent). Rebounds: Brookside 31 (Capers 7), Columbia 26 (Smith 7). Total fouls: Brookside 14, Columbia 11. Turnovers: Brookside 13, Columbia 13.