Brown scores 43 points as Brownsville tops Charleroi
Katie Roupe/Observer-Reporter Charleroi’s Eric Tedrow’s shot is blocked by Brownsville’s Tryvon Brown during the first quarter of Friday night’s game.
Charleroi head coach Bill Wiltz shouts for officials to eject a Brownsville parent who walked onto the court during the game after a Brownsville and Charleroi player got tangled up in the fourth quarter.
Katie Roupe/Observer-Reporter Brownsville’s Noah Brown scored his 1,000 point and broke the school record for most points scored in a game during Friday night’s game against Charleroi on Friday, January 29.
Katie Roupe/Observer-Reporter Charleroi’s John Arnold shoots for two points while Brownsville’s Travis Bevard guards during the second quarter of Friday night’s game on January, 29.
Katie Roupe/Observer-Reporter Brownsville’s James Holcomb and Charleroi’s Brock Shannon stood nose to nose until teammates and officials separated the two resulting in two technical fouls during the fourth quarter of the game.
Katie Roupe/Observer-Reporter Charleroi’s Sam Pager celebrates as a teammate scores bringing the team within one point of Brownsville during the third quarter of the game. Brownsville won 74-57.
CHARLEROI – A section title was the last thing on the minds of Brownsville’s boys basketball players less than three months ago.
Instead of talking about furthering the program’s dominant run, the Falcons were grieving. Senior guard Andre Smith was killed when the car he was driving crashed into a building in Brownsville after state police attempted to question him about an incident in the early morning hours of Nov. 8.
Friday night, his former teammates remembered him the best way they knew – by clinching at least a share of their third consecutive section title.
As fate would have it, it was a player wearing Smith’s former number (34) that helped make it happen.
Senior forward Noah Brown, who adopted the number before the season, scored a school-record 43 points, including 26 in the second half, to help Brownsville defeat Charleroi, 74-57, in a Section 4-AA game in front of a large crowd on the road.
“This means so much to me,” Brown said, “We clinched the section, I scored my 1,000th point and I got that record. I was just feeling it tonight. This is one of the biggest games of the season, so to do what we did is special for all of us.
Brown, who made five three-pointers, also scored his 1,000th career point in the fourth quarter, despite Charleroi trying everything it could to stop the 6-4 force.
The Falcons (10-0, 16-4) led by just five points at halftime but the combination of their press defense and Brown made the difference.
While his guards, most notably senior Tryvon Brown, limited Charleroi’s guards’ opportunities, Noah Brown dominated in transition and in the lane against Cougars senior John Arnold, a 6-9 center.
Charleroi (8-2, 15-3) trailed by 11 points midway through the third quarter until it went on a 12-0 run, including nine points from senior guard Brock Shannon, to take a 45-44 lead. Brown quickly made an uncontested three-pointer and Tryvon Brown added another, draining all the momentum the Cougars had gained.
“It is impossible to guard him,” Charleroi head coach Bill Wiltz said of Noah Brown. “We double-teamed him the whole night. The majority of the night we were triangle-and-two, we did a little bit of box-and-one on him. There was no way we could stop him. He’s one of the best players we’ve faced in a long time.”
Despite struggling on offense in the third quarter, the Cougars trailed by just seven points entering the fourth, but the Falcons’ quick guard play and full-court press finally wore down Charleroi. Brownsville also found an answer for Arnold, who was double-teamed all night. He finished with a team-high 21 points with 18 rebounds but was held to just six points in the second half. Sam Miceli had 15 points for the Cougars.
Charleroi committed 10 fourth-quarter turnovers, junior guard Eric Tedrow fouled out and the Cougars went cold from the field, missing eight of their first 10 attempts in the final eight minutes.
Brown, meanwhile, used ball screens and a soft touch at the free-throw line to put the game away.
Foul trouble piled up quickly for the Cougars. Arnold was called for his second personal foul with a little over three minutes into the first quarter and Brownsville took advantage. When he checked back into the game five minutes later, the Falcons couldn’t find an answer for his ability to score in the post.
Arnold scored 11 points in the second quarter and blocked two shots, limiting Brown to the outside and creating open looks for his teammates, but Brownsville’s press and Brown’s ability all over the floor were too much to handle.
“It was an emotional night,” Brownsville head coach Brian Brashear said. “Noah got his 1,000th point and we are always thinking of Andre. Everything we do this season is dedicated to him and tonight is no different.”