D-IV District Boys Basketball: Brookside upsets Orrville on the road

ORRVILLE — Somebody forgot to tell Brookside it was the underdog Tuesday in the Division IV district semifinal. The No. 8 Cardinals did all the things championship teams do. They took an early led, made their free throws, forced the sixth-seeded Red Riders out of their comfort zone by switching up defenses and eventually walked away from Bob Knight Gymnasium with a 56-49 win and a trip to the district final. "I'm proud of our guys," Brookside coach Larry Babics said. "It's hard. I mean, you've got four districts and 35 teams but you don't get any easy ones. We just played the 13 seed Friday and now the sixth seed tonight on the road. We made enough plays to separate so we'd be prepared when they made a couple of runs." Junior Mason Waecther made a 3-pointer on the Cardinals' first possession and set the tone for the night. The 6-foot-5 Waechter spend the night splitting time between the 3-point line and the lane, where he was able to drive to the basket and get fouled. Waechter went to the free throw line 11 times, making eight. He scored 23 points. "It's awesome that we're headed to the district finals. Coach said it's been a long time since a Brookside team made it this far," Waechter said. "We worked hard all offseason to be in position to win these games." Orrville (17-6) only led for 33 seconds in the second quarter after Malakhi Gray made a pair of free throws to complete a 9-0 run to start the period and give his team an 18-17 lead. Although Orrville played from behind the entire second half, it kept the pressure on Brookside, tying the score at 46 in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter and keeping it a one-possession game until the final two minutes. Sophomore Zeke Lind was 4-of-5 from the free throw line in the fourth for Brookside, which shot 75 percent from the line (18-of-24). "We played as a team and worked together," said Lind, who finished with 19 points. "Nobody thought we were able to do it and we played with that chip on our shoulder. We had to stay focused, there was a lot going on at the end of the game." The Red Riders forced Brookside into three turnovers in the final minute, but the Cardinals defense rose to the occasion and didn't allow them to capitalize. This was only the fifth time this season Brookside held an opponent under 50 points. "We're not a zone team but we knew they were a little bit quick so had to clog up the middle," Babics said. "We put in a 3-2 zone to switch to a 2-3 yesterday, we made some mistakes in it but if hold somebody to about 50 I'm gonna like our chances." The Cardinals held the Red Riders to 32 percent shooting (19-60). Orrville was led by junior Brayden Cox, who had 15 points. Brookside will play in a district final for the first time in 36 years Saturday when it faces No. 1 seed Canfield at the North Ridgeville Academic Center in a battle of Cardinals. Canfield defeated NDCL 72-65 in their district semifinal. "We've got to buckle down in practice, keep shooting in practice and be ready to knock down shots and play as a team," Waechter said. Contact Todd Shapiro at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Brookside 56, Orrville 49 BROOKSIDE (56): Alex Arra1-2-5, Ethan Blythe 1-3-6, Mason Waechter 6-8-23, Zeke Lind 6-4-19, Noah Muniz 1-1-3. Totals 15-18-56. ORRVILLE (49): Brayden Cox 5-3-15, Braylon Slaughter 5-1-12, Tre Mosley 1-0-2, Case McDaniel 1-0-2, Chase Wipert 3-2-8, Breylon McDuffie 1-0-2, Malakhi Gray 2-2-6, Brenden Wipert 1-0-2. Totals 19-8-49. Brookside&emsp;17&emsp;11&emsp;8&emsp;20&emsp;—&emsp;56 Orrville&emsp;9&emsp;11&emsp;14&emsp;15&emsp;—&emsp;49 Three-point goals: Brookside (Waechter 3, Lind 3, Arra, Blythe), Orrville (Cox 2, Slaughter). Field goals: Brookside 15-34 (44 percent), Orrville 19-60 (32 percent). Free throws: Brookside 18-24 (75 percent), Orrville 8-13 (62 percent). Rebounds: Brookside 21, Orrville 35. Turnovers: Brookside 18, Orrville 13. Team fouls: Brookside 13, Orrville 16. Technical foul: Blyth.