By Staff
Four Patriots score in double figures in Brewer rout
Justin Schuver, Hartselle Enquirer
Brewer showed it was more than a one-man team Thursday night as the Patriots cruised to a 71-46 win over Falkville in second-round action at the Morgan County Tournament.
Matt Neilsen, who came into the game as the Patriots' leading scorer, was held to seven points but his teammates picked up the scoring duties. Four Patriots scored in double figures — Rusty Boyd with 14, Tyler Shelton with 13, Alex Brown with 12 and Brandon Franks with 11.
"We had other guys step up and hit shots and make plays for us," Brewer coach Sam Brown said. "That's really the beauty of how we're playing right now; it's not a one-man team. We're really doing a good job of distributing the ball lately."
Brewer, the defending Morgan County champion, led Falkville 13-11 after one quarter before opening the second quarter on a 7-0 run. Nielsen hit a three-pointer at the halftime buzzer to give the Patriots an eight-point lead at the half.
The defense stepped up in the second half of the game, holding the Blue Devils to 18 points in the last 16 minutes of play. Heath Alford, who led Falkville with 17 points, scored just four in the second half.
"I think the key in what we tried to do was make (Falkville) shoot over the top of us," Brown said. "We're long and we're tall and we were letting them get around us a bunch in the first half. We tried to contain them more in the second half and force them to shoot over us and it worked well."
Thomas Holt added 14 points in the loss for Falkville (13-7).
Brewer (14-10) moves on to the championship game and will face the winner of the Danville/West Morgan game Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
SAM BROWN Brewer
"The second half I thought we rebounded much better. The first half, the Alford kid has a good knack for getting weak-side rebounds. We talked about it before the game but we didn't do a good job first half, the second half we did. I don't know what the numbers were but we rebounded better in the second half."
"Not only were there four in double figures, but our leading scorer didn't get in double figures — Nielsen had seven, but then we had other guys step up and hit shots and make plays. That's really the beauty of how we're playing right now; it's not a one-man team. We're doing a good job of distributing the ball."
"I think the key in what we tried to do was make them shoot over the top of us, because we're long and we're tall. We were letting them get around us a bunch in the second half so we tried to contain them a little more and make them shoot over the top of us more in the second half."