Jan 14, 2025
Staff photo / Brian Yauger LaBrae’s Derek Wilson (12) drives past Crestview’s Tyler Savage and to the basket for a layup during Monday’s game at LaBrae High School.
LEAVITTSBURG — LaBrae set the tone early on Monday, and rode that momentum to a 63-29 league victory over Crestview.
“We moved the ball well. We had an inside-out shot, a couple of 3-pointers early that kind of spread them out. I thought we actually didn’t play a great offensive game, but I thought we played pretty well defensively,” Vikings coach Chad Kiser said. “We missed some shots. They were open shots. We moved the ball well against the zone. Didn’t make the first few.
“I thought the defense led to some easy buckets that got us going. Then we started shooting a little better off of that. Tonight, I’d say our defense really kind of carried us more.”
That tough defense led to double-figure scoring nights from both Derek Wilson (19) and Austin Rowe (16).
Rowe is in his third game back after an injury and is already making a difference.
Injuries have been an early story for LaBrae (8-4, 3-0 MVAC-Gray), losing Jack Lancaster to an ACL injury early in the season.
But the silver lining is there.
Guys that weren’t expected to be major contributors saw their playing time shoot up and have shown they could be valuable depth pieces.
Now, as guys are making their way back from injury, the team has started to gel even better.
“I think it’s made a big difference,” Kiser said. “It’s helped space the floor and it just makes us deeper, because we weren’t very deep. We couldn’t put a lot of guys out there, we just didn’t have the numbers. Now we’ve kind of got a little bit of a stride now, and doing pretty good.
“We had all those guys out. So a lot of younger guys have got some experience at the varsity level and played a little bit bigger role than what we anticipated early on. I think that’s actually made us a little bit better and deeper.”
Crestview (3-9, 1-4 MVAC-Gray) was led by sophomore Eli Cope with eight points.
LaBrae has a tough league battle against Garfield in a showdown between the two top teams in the Gray Tier.
Against a tough G-Men team, Kiser wants to see more of what worked against the Rebels.
“Defense and rebounding,” Kiser said. “The offense kind of takes care of itself and defense leads to offense, kind of like it did tonight, so it’s going to be defense and rebounding. They spread the ball well, get a good height and then can shoot it. It’s going to be a defensive game if we’re going to get a victory, it’s got to be defensive.”
Crestview travels to Liberty on Thursday to face the Leopards. Rebel coach Lou Mateo was not available for comment following the game.
LIBERTY — The Liberty Leopards hosted Southeast on Monday night, and the Pirates came away with a 58-30 Mahoning …
BEAVER TOWNSHIP — The Cleveland Guardians will soon head to spring training with radio broadcaster Jim …
BOYS BASKETBALL Warren JFK 62, Campbell Memorial 49 — Behind 27 points from Nick Ryan, Warren JFK pulled away …
Youngstown State’s midseason struggles continued on Sunday, as the Penguins dropped their fourth straight game …
Copyright © Tribune Chronicle | https://www.tribtoday.com | 240 Franklin Street SE, Warren, OH 44483 | 330-841-1600
