Brunswick boys rally late to complete the City Championship sweep
Jan. 22—No matter the deficit at hand, the Brunswick boy's basketball team kept fighting before coming out on top 66-60 in the City Championship game at the Glass Palace.
Down 22-11 after the first quarter, 38-29 at the half and clawing their way back into the game, the Pirates captured their first lead of the game midway through the third quarter and fought to the very end for the victory.
"It felt like we were down 30 the whole game," Brunswick head coach Chris Turner said about battling back into the game. "I don't remember them missing a shot, especially in the first half, they didn't miss. They played well. It wasn't that we were playing that bad, it was just that they were playing really well."
The Pirates (11-5, 4-3) had to fight hard against a Terror's defense that was constantly changing from man defense to a 3-2 zone.
"Glynn was going from a man to zone and we are really inexperienced as far as players," Turner said about some of the struggles through the course of the game. "That's where we are trying to improve on. Understanding to not have to burn timeouts to set them up for what can beat something. They were going from man to a 3-2 zone. I was trying to switch up how to attack it."
Brunswick was able to add to its lead into the fourth quarter, leading 49-45 in front of a sold out crowd but knew that a late rally was coming from Glynn Academy.
The Terrors (14-5, 4-4) were able to tie the game at 58 a piece with 2:44 left in the game.
Less than forty seconds later, Glynn Academy led 60-58 with 2:02 left.
It seemed as if the Pirates, who were making every shot possible to come back into the game, had run out of gas and let their cross-town rivals in control of the outcome.
However, no matter the records of the schools, an exciting finish is destined to happen.
Brunswick gave its traveling fans a finish for the ages, rallying an 8-0 run in the final two minutes and not only completing a comeback but a moral win for a team that has struggled in parts of the season.
"We tell our guys in this game that we want them to be aggressive, but play smart," Turner said after the win. "This game is easy to lose your head in and you never know who can win this game. Just like over at our place, they were able to get us over there and we were determined to come over here and someone get this one tonight. I'm really proud of my players, they played hard on defense and they made some big shots."
Brunswick's Camarion Johnson was named the City Championship MVP for his 20-point, six-rebound, two-assist and two-steal performance against the Terrors.
"He's had a big year and he's had a good career for us," Turner said of his star player. "He started as a freshman, he's now a junior. We expect him to play well and when he does this team has a shot, because he's complete. He can score, he can rebound, he can dish it and he can defend."
The full game story will run in the Monday edition of The News.
