Last chapter: Pioneers fall to Brentwood in Romanus鈥� final game as coach
ROGERSVILLE 鈥� Brentwood could only muster two points through half of the first quarter last Thursday night.
Once the Spartans got going, though, they never let up in their WPIAL Class 2A boys basketball preliminary round playoff game at West Greene.
Brentwood stormed back from an early 11-2 deficit to knock off the 14th-seeded Pioneers in coach Jim Romanus鈥� final game, 69-59.
Forrest Betz led the way for Brentwood with a game-high 21 points, including three 3-pointers. Colten Rosing followed with 12 points in a balanced attack for the No. 19 Spartans (10-12) who also got nine points from Mike Satler and eight from Xhavier Nunez.
鈥淏rentwood鈥檚 got a very physical-type team and they鈥檝e got shooters,鈥� Romaus said. 鈥淭he way to defend that is you鈥檝e got to be able to play man-to-man and we鈥檙e not built for that. We tried a bunch of things. We played what we call a 51 defense, a 1-3-1 chaser, 52 which is a triangle and two, 53 which is two guys playing zone. We tried everything.鈥�
Romanus did find some success with a press that helped give the Pioneers life.
West Greene (13-8) trailed by as many as 19 in the third quarter but rallied to within five with 1:18 left in the game on a layup by Darren Knight.
Brentwood made three of four foul shots in the final minute to secure the victory.
Knight led the Pioneers with 14 points.
West Greene 1,000-point scorer Lane Allison didn鈥檛 notch his first points until hitting a jump shot with 3:50 left in the third quarter but scored 12 in the second half to spur his team鈥檚 comeback. Matt Wassil added 10 points and Parker Burns had nine.
Romanus felt the way the officials called the game heavily impacted Allison and his players and gave Brentwood an advantage.
鈥淭he key to me is I thought the officiating was very, very favorable to their style because it was extremely physical,鈥� Romanus said. 鈥淭hat took our kids out of what they had to do. Finally we adjusted a little bit with that press.
鈥淏ut no matter where Lane was going he was getting bumped and fouled. I鈥檓 really proud of our guys. After 50 years I鈥檓 retiring and I think officials overall do a great job. But I鈥檝e never seen these three guys before. It鈥檚 obvious they come from the north where it鈥檚 a little more physical. That鈥檚 not our style.鈥�
Brentwood reeled off the final seven points of the first quarter to get within 11-9, then had five different players sink 3-pointers in the second quarter when it out-scored the hosts 23-9 to take a 32-20 halftime lead.
Coach Dan Thayer鈥檚 Spartans still held a 46-31 advantage after three quarters before West Greene got back in the game with a 14-6 run to start the fourth, including 3-pointers by Allison and Knight.
After a Betz layup, Knight countered with a jump shot to make it 54-47 but then missed a 3-pointer with 1:50 remaining that would鈥檝e sliced the lead to four. Knight came right back with a layup to make it 54-49 but Brentwood scored the final five points.
Romanus commended his team, including seniors Allison, Patrick Durbin and Burns.
鈥淚鈥檝e got three seniors on my team that were spectacular for the program,鈥� Romanus said. 鈥淧atrick can pass the ball like nobody. He鈥檚 so unselfish. Parker is just fundamentally sound. I鈥檝e never had a scorer like Lane.
鈥淒arrin and Matt, also, they鈥檝e improved throughout the year and played well tonight.鈥�
Romanus, who let his players know beforehand he was retiring at the end of the season, said his final post-game talk in the locker room was difficult.
鈥淚t was emotional in there,鈥� said Romanus, who was clearly still emotional himself afterwards. 鈥淚 told them I love them, and I鈥檓 going to miss them.鈥�