Steubenville Hands Brooke First Setback
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WELLSBURG -- It was clear right from the opening tip Friday that Big Red was on a mission to get its offense going after a slow start to the season.
Senior Phaeton Hill nailed a couple of early shots and got the ball rolling for coach Mike Haney's group as Steubenville rolled to a 62-47 victory over the host Bruins inside the Brooke Wellness Center.
Big Red, which jumped out to a 17-4 lead after the opening quarter, had as many points in the first half as it did in the entirety of its loss at Minerva on Tuesday (28).
"We got a good start, we came out and hit some nice shots and moved the ball well," Haney said. "The shots were falling and it gave us a spark. (Tuesday) we were 1 of 16 from 3 … Coming off of that, it was nice to see the ball go through the hoop early. We made some early and the confidence came back."
Hill led all players with 21 points, while also pulling down 10 rebounds for a double-double. He was 7 of 7 from the foul line, leading a 14 of 15 effort from the line overall for Big Red (2-1).
"He played really well, and he started off fast," Haney said of Hill. "He made a couple quick buckets and got the energy going. He made some good passes, played good defense and rebounded well. That's what we expect from a senior and three-year starter at point guard."
Ivan Buggs netted 13 points and Keith Lewis tallied 11 and six boards to give Big Red a trio in double figures.
"That's always a good formula for us to have three guys in double figures," Haney said. "Our free throw shooting was way better, which was huge. Going 14 of 15 is the best we've been in I couldn't tell you how long."
After falling behind, the Bruins (2-1) did not go away, as they battled back to within eight at halftime and continued to trim the lead early in the third quarter, a Leyton Toepher triple – one of his four in the game on the way to a team-high 14 points – cutting the margin to three.
"We knew they could all shoot the ball and they were going to fight back," Haney said of the Bruins. "They cut the lead down a couple times. We had a response when they pushed back, and that was key. That comes from a lot of our guys having experience."
That Big Red response came as they rattled off an 8-0 run to go back up by 11, and held a 41-33 lead headed to the fourth quarter.
"We heard some rumblings that they were having trouble scoring the basketball, but I knew they would shoot the ball well," Brooke head coach Adam Shinsky said. "They had football legs for their first couple of games. Hill is the kind of player that, when he gets hot, he gets hot for the night and he made his first couple of shots.
"We fought back a couple of times, but we did not shoot the ball well enough."
In the fourth quarter, Steubenville had its biggest offensive output of the night, scoring 21 and leading by double digits most of the way to the finish, leading by as many as 17 on the way to the 15-point victory.
For Brooke, who connected for 10 3s as a team but made just six buckets from two-point range, the lack of offensive consistency was tough.
"Going 10 of 31 from the 3-point line and 16 of 52 total is not going to cut it for us," Shinsky said. "We got the number of shots we want, but we did not shoot the ball well enough.
"We shot bad (Friday), but Tuesday is another day."
Peyton Toepher finished with 10 points to put both Toephers in double digits for Shinsky and company.