LEBANON • The good news for Breese Central on Tuesday night was that it easily handled Lebanon 70-51 in a nonconference boys basketball game at Charles E. Mandley Memorial Gymnasium.
The bad news, the Cougars allowed 51 points, the most they've given up this season.
"Our offense exploded tonight, but defensively, that was one of our worst games this year that we've had," said Central point guard Nick Grapperhaus, who finished with 17 points. "That's not a bad defensive game by any means. But, compared to what we've been doing all year, I think we could have held them to less."
Central, No. 3 among St. Louis-area small schools and No. 3 in the Illinois Associated Press Class 2A state poll, improved to 14-2 with its third straight victory. Lebanon, No. 8 among small schools, had its four-game winning streak snapped and fell to 12-5. Tommy Pilackas and Taylor Johnson each scored 12 points for the Greyhounds.
Entering the game, the Cougars had allowed just 35.2 points per contest, while scoring 51.1 points. They had given up 48 points twice this season — to Flora and Mater Dei — and had scored 70 or more just once (73 against Freeburg).
"We did some things better that we hadn't been doing," Central coach Stan Eagleson said. "We shot free throws better (18 for 22), we shot the ball from the field better (22 of 46, including 8 of 14 from 3-point territory). But in the second half, we got into a stretch where we threw the ball away (nine turnovers in the third quarter after only three in the first half and 13 for the game)."
For at least one-plus quarter, the game looked like it was going to be close. The Greyhounds were down only 17-12 after a basket by Kyle Moore (10 points) with 6 minutes 53 seconds to go in the first half.
But Moore, who was fouled on the play, missed the free throw and the Cougars promptly used a 17-4 run to blow the game open enroute to a 37-18 lead at halftime. Grapperhaus scored eight of his points during the blitz and Brandon Book added five. He wound up with a game-high 18 points.
"I haven't been shooting well at all this year and I finally had some to go in," said Grapperhaus, who was 5 of 7 from the field, including 2 of 3 from the 3-point line. "Once one person starts hitting, everyone starts."
Central took its biggest lead at 56-31 after two free throws by Jacob Timmermann with 6:29 remaining before the Greyhounds made one last charge with a 13-0 run, trimming the deficit to 56-44 with 4:35 left. However, the Cougars' Keaton Scheer quelled the uprising with a 3-pointer from the right corner with 4:10 left.
"I was worried about being able to score some points against them after watching them on tape," said Lebanon coach Chad Cruthis, whose team committed 19 turnovers. "We had to play almost perfect and have them come with their 'C' game for us to beat them."
