The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Brush to meet Mentor in district final
Panthers grind out win; Shaker Heights is next
It wasn’t pretty, and it certainly wasn’t easy.
But finally, after losses in the tournament the last two seasons, and an eight-point loss earlier this season, Euclid got over its hump against Garfield Heights, downing the Bulldogs in overtime on March 7 at Solon, 49-46.
After the teams battled to a 42-42 deadlock in regulation, junior Brent Darby, who led Garfield Heights with 16 points, scored to give the Bulldogs a 44-42 lead.
Euclid senior Ke’Saun Key split a pair of free throws after a steal, then the Panthers missed two from the line before
Darby scored again to make it 46-43 Bulldogs. The stage was set. Euclid junior Garvin Clarke, who scored a game-high 25 points, sank two from the line to cut it to 46-45 with 1:19 left, and then came the play of the game with just about a minute to play.
The Panthers’ Latrayl Alexander, a 6-foot-4 senior, dove onto the floor to come up with a steal, then quickly passed to Clarke, who drove the lane and put in a contested layup to put Euclid on top, 47-46.
After an exchange of turnovers, 6-foot-6 senior Mario Lacy did four things on one play: blocked a shot, grabbed the rebound, passed the ball downcourt, and took the return pass for a wide-open layup and 49-46 Euclid lead with just 3 second left. Garfield Heights missed a final 3-point attempt, and a celebration two years in the making ensued for the Panthers.
Euclid will play a Greater Cleveland Conference rival Shaker Heights in a district final on March 9 at Solon at 2:30. It will be the rubber match between the two, as the Panthers lost to the Red Raiders on Dec. 21, 5752, before beating them on Feb.1, 79-74.
“It feels good. It’s the first time in a while to finally get the dub over Garfield,” said Clarke, who also praised the effort of Alexander on his critical steal in overtime.
Clarke added four steals, while Lacy compiled a double-double of 12 points and 14 rebounds. Both teams struggled from the freethrow line (combined 16 for 36) and from 3-point range (combined 7 for 29). But the Panthers won the rebounding battle, 29-25, and made the big defensive plays they had to make when they were needed most.
“I don’t think we played well, and I don’t think they played well, but we played as hard as we could,” Euclid coach T.J. Kwasniak said. “At this time of year you need a couple breaks. I thought Meechie (Johnson) not playing obviously was a big break, but other than that we had to make our own breaks. We got a couple big steals, we dove on the ball, I thought Latrayl coming in and getting that steal when we were down one was huge, and we got the lead. We made so many (big) non-scoring plays.”
Euclid closed out each of the opening two quarters
in style. Clarke hit a turnaround jumper to give the Panthers a 13-8 lead in the first quarter, and Lacy found Tyrese Duckworth wide open in the corner at the end of the second, and Duckworth drilled a triple that gave Euclid a 21-15 advantage at the half.
Standout sophomore Meechie Johnson had to miss the game with an injury, and 6-foot-8 senior Brison Waller did play, but on an injured knee. After the Bulldogs struggled offensively in the first half, Darby led a stirring comeback with 10 third-quarter points. Waller tied the game, 34-34, with 1:12 left in the third on a putback, but Clarke hit a 3 to once again help close a quarter strong and Euclid took a 3734 lead into the fourth.
Brison scored in the fourth to put Garfield Heights ahead, 41-39. After a free throw by each team, Clarke went coast to coast with a layup to tie it, 4242, but missed on a potential game-winning three in
the final seconds, leading to the extra session.
“Obviously the difference in the game was Garvin,” Kwasniak said, while also praising the way Lacy battled with the bigs of the Bulldogs. “I probably don’t give Garvin as much credit as everyone else does, but he was awesome. It’s something I’ve been waiting for, where he just says, ‘I’m not going to let us lose’. He’s too nice of a kid, but I’ve been kind of waiting for him to become our Sincere (graduated Solon standout Sincere Carry). I thought he did that tonight.”
Sonny Johnson, son of the Garfield Heights head coach of the same name and cousin of Meechie, scored 13 points for the Bulldogs. Waller finished with 7 points and 11 rebounds in his first game back from injury.
“I thought we had a decent lead before overtime, and even in the overtime, but we turned the ball over,” Garfield Heights coach Sonny Johnson said.