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Historic game, new record & big win
by Norv & Mary Coblentz · Sports · February 07, 2019
The West Branch boys played the first varsity basketball game in the Hoover Elementary gymnasium in 38 years.
They beat the West Liberty Comets 61-39, and Beau Cornwell broke Rylan Murry’s career points record of 1,629 points set in the 2012-2013 season for West Branch in the second half. The new record at West Branch is 1,638 and counting.
After playing Mid-Prairie Feb. 1 in the evening and playing West Liberty Feb. 2 in the morning, West Branch Head Coach Jason Kern was pleased with his team’s wins.
“It was a very quick turnaround, a new gym, a new environment,” Kern said. “We were ready, and they were dealing with the same situation we were. Shots weren’t falling tonight. We probably shot about 30 percent from the field. I told the guys we win games with defense, and that showed (today). This is kind of like tournament time, you don’t have too much time to prepare for a team. The good thing for us was it’s the second go-around, so we were kind of familiar with these guys already.
“I think this is getting us ready for tournament time. This late in the year, it’s hard to get a lot of stuff done practice-wise. I’d rather play a game anyway. There’s only one game that we might not reschedule (after missing games because of bad weather). We’ll have three more in the next five days.”
The tip by Trey Eagle went to Brady Lukavsky. Ted Bridges was fouled on a shot attempt. His two free throws were the first points of the game. Bridges grabbed an offensive rebound, but the Comets got a defensive board. A steal by Bridges led to a Cornwell layup for a 4-0 score. With 4:54 on the clock, West Liberty took a time out. The Comets traveled when play resumed. Cornwell got an offensive rebound and basket. He drew a foul but missed the free throw. The West Branch lead was 6-0. Cornwell got a steal. Thomas Gould made an offensive rebound, and Cornwell scored, assist Gould, for an 8-0 West Branch lead. It was the final time the Bears would score in the quarter. With 3:21 to go in the first quarter, West Liberty took another time out. West Liberty turned the ball over but got a steal and drew a foul. The first of two free throws was good for the Comets’ first point of the game at the 2:11 mark. The Bears got the rebound, but West Liberty stole the ball and scored for an 8-3 tally. In the last 1:53 of the quarter, the Bears got rebounds by Brett Schiele, Zach Thompson, and Cornwell, and Jeff Bowie got a block.
The Comets got another basket, and the score after one quarter was 8-5.
In the second quarter, the Bears outscored the Comets 19-10, wearing down West Liberty, who has just seven players on the team. It was the Comets’ ball to start the quarter. Bridges got a defensive rebound, and Eagle was fouled on a shot attempt. He made both free throws. The Comets completed a traditional three-point play for a 10-8 score. After an offensive board by Eagle, Thompson made a basket. West Liberty made two free throws, then Bridges scored, assist Lukavsky, and drew a foul. He made the free throw. The Comets turned the ball over, and Eagle made a three-point basket for an 18-10 West Branch lead. The Comets made a layup, then Schiele made a layup. Down 20-12 with 3:39 left in the half, West Liberty called a time out. Lukavsky got a steal, then West Liberty was fouled on a shot try and made the first of two free throws. Bridges got the rebound. West Liberty got a defensive rebound and drove to the basket to score. A jump ball kept the ball with the Bears. Eagle caught the inbounds pass, scored, and drew a foul. He made the free throw, and the Bears had a 23-15 lead. The Bears were fouled and missed the front end of a one-and-one. West Liberty traveled, and Bridges made a putback basket. Bridges got a defensive rebound, and Cornwell made a pull-up jumper. West Liberty missed a shot at the buzzer. At halftime, the score was 27-15, and Beau Cornwell was five points away from tying West Branch’s career points total.
The Comets had the ball to start the second half, but Lukavsky quickly got a steal and a layup. The Comets completed a three-point play. The Comets got a steal, then Thompson got a steal and layup for a 31-18 score. The Comets had a chance at a three-point play but missed the free throw. Eagle got the rebound. West Liberty got a defensive rebound. A jump ball, forced by Bridges, gave the Bears the ball. The Bears were called for a charge, and West Liberty made a three-point basket. Cornwell scored, assist Gould, then the Comets made a basket. Cornwell scored again, assist Gould, and he was two points from breaking the record. The Comets missed two free throws, then Bridges made a three-pointer, assist Gould, and the Bears had a 38-25 lead. The Comets took a time out with 2:25 left in the quarter. When play resumed, Cornwell made a three-point basket from the top of the key, assist Gould, breaking the school career scoring record. West Liberty turned the ball over, and Cornwell made another three-point basket. Cornwell got a defensive rebound, Bridges got an offensive board and drew a foul. He made both free throws. The Comets made a three-point basket. The score after three quarters was 45-28.
West Liberty started the fourth quarter with possession. Each team got a defensive rebound, then Cornwell got a steal and layup. Cornwell got a defensive rebound, and Lukavsky scored, assist Cornwell. The Comets got fouled on a shot attempt, and both free throws were made. A three-point basket by Thompson made the score 52-30. The Comets scored the next four points with four free throws. Cornwell scored, assist Schiele. West Liberty made a basket. Gould made back-to-back baskets with assists by Schiele and Cornwell. Matt Whaley made a three-point basket, and the score was 61-36. West Liberty turned the ball over but got a steal and a layup. The Bears traveled, and the Comets got fouled, making the second of two free throws. The final score was 61-30.
“That’s a short turnaround for us (playing Friday night and Saturday morning), especially with the short bench that we have, West Liberty Head Coach James Laughlin said. “A lot of guys played a lot of minutes. I’m happy with our guys. We came out, and I thought we did some good things. We were right there for a little while, then the turnover bug hit us. We’ve got to figure out a way to stop doing that. I thought we did a nice job defensively, we got some tips, we got some rebounds. I was a little disappointed we let some offensive rebounds go. The second half we came out and did some things we shouldn’t be doing with turnovers and giving up some transition baskets, and giving them easy open three-pointers.”
1 2 3 4 T
WB 8 19 18 16 61
WL 5 10 13 11 39
West Branch stats: Brett Schiele 1 0-0 2, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block; Beau Cornwell 10 0-2 22, 2 3-pointers, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 steals; Trey Eagle 2 3-3 8, 1 3-pointer, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block; Brady Lukavsky 2 3-3 8, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals; Zach Thompson 3 0-0 7, 1 3-pointer, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal; Matt Whaley 1 0-0 3, 1 3-pointer, 1 rebound; Jeff Bowie 1 block; Simon Palmer 1 steal; Thomas Gould 2 0-0 4, 2 rebounds, 6 assists
West Liberty stats: not available
West Branch 74, Mid-Prairie 62
Feb. 1 at Wellman
The Bears got off to a hot start, out-pacing the Golden Hawks 17-8 in the first quarter, and Mid-Prairie could not catch up. Beau Cornwell scored 28 points including 2-2 from the free throw line and four three-point baskets. He led the team in rebounds with eight, in assists with four, and in steals with five. Ted Bridges scored in double figures as well with 14 points. He made 5-6 free throws and a three-point basket. Bridges had five blocks in the game.
1 2 3 4 T
WB 17 18 19 20 74
MP 8 18 14 22 62
West Branch stats: Brett Schiele 3 1-1 7, 3 rebounds, 2 assists; Beau Cornwell 11 2-2 28, 4 3-pointers, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 steals; Trey Eagle 2 4-5 8, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal; Brady Lukavsky 2 0-0 5, 1 3-pointer, 4 rebounds, 3 assists; Zach Thompson 3 0-1 6 3 assists, 1 steal; Ted Bridges 4 5-6 14, 1 3-pointer, 2 rebounds, 5 blocks; Thomas Gould 2 2-4 6, 2 rebounds, 1 assist
Mid-Prairie stats: Brad Tornow 1 3-4 5, 1 rebound, 3 assists, 2 steals; Cale Robertson 4 0-0 8, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal; Grant Boyse 1 0-2 2, 2 rebounds, 1 assist; Tom Butters 9 4-9 22 14 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals; Ethan Trimpe 9 1-1 19, 4 rebounds, 1 assist; Dominic Pickard 0 2-2 2, 2 rebounds; Chaz Patterson 2 0-0 4, 3 rebounds, 1 assist
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