BELLEVILLE — When an 8-seed meets a 9-seed in the high school basketball playoffs, anything goes. The Belleville Wildcats and the Brodhead Cardinals demonstrated that on Tuesday, March 3 in a Division 4 regional quarterfinal.
The Wildcats hung on to win 60-53 over the Cardinals to advance to the regional semifinal against No. 1 seed Darlington on Friday, March 6.
The Wildcats got off to an 8-0 lead early in the game and led 13-7 with 8:41 left in the first half. Senior Jackson Scholey converted a three-point play to put the Wildcats ahead 16-12 with 5:50 left in the half before senior Sam Searls of Brodhead scored from the baseline and senior Dylan Ross hit a jumper to tie the game at 16-16 with 3:40 remaining in the half. Searls got a steal and scored at the buzzer for the Cardinals, but Belleville held a 21-18 halftime lead.
The Wildcats got a great start on the second half as senior Isaac Patrow made two free throws and followed with a three to put Belleville ahead 26-18. The Wildcats’ lead increased to 10 when Braylon Strehlow of Brodhead was called for a technical foul and Scholey made two free throws to give Belleville a 28-18 lead. A few minutes later, senior Hazeon Edmond grabbed an offensive rebound and scored to maintain Belleville’s 10 point lead at 36-26.
But, Brodhead hung tough as senior Nolan Bump scored on an offensive rebound and hit a bucket off the window to bring the Cardinals back at 36-32. Then, Ross got a three-point play to tie it at 38-38 with 8:53 to play. Senior Cooper Nemec scored a basket to provide Belleville with a 47-41 lead, but Brodhead countered with a three by sophomore Logan Krupke and another basket to cut it to 47-46. Scholey’s driving layup and a score down the lane put Belleville on top 51-46. The Cardinals came right back as Searls nailed a three-pointer to tie the game at 51-51 with 1:20 left.
Scholey made back-to-back baskets to put Belleville ahead for good at 55-51 with 33.4 seconds to play forcing the Cardinals to foul. Sophomore Evan Edge made two free throws and Scholey made one of two to close out the win for the Wildcats. Brodhead tied the game twice in the second half after trailing by 10 points, but never got the lead.
Scholey led all scorers with 32 points. Patrow finished with 12 points and Edmond got eight points for Belleville (9-16).
Three players scored in double figures for the Cardinals. Searls netted 15 points, Bump had 12, and Krupke scored 11 points for Brodhead, who ended their season with a record of 4-21.
Belleville coach Drew Shrader said it was a hard-earned win with clutch plays made by his team.
“It was big. You get to a point where you feel like you’re playing some good basketball, and I’ve got to give Brodhead a lot of credit. They were really into it. They kept fighting. And they never went away. At the end of the day, we made a couple more plays than they did and we were fortunate enough to come away with the win,” said Shrader.
Belleville advanced to face No. 1 seed Darlington (21-3) in a Division 4 regional semifinal on Friday, March 6. The winner plays for a regional championship on Saturday, March 7.
