Conner Bach scored 18 points to held Eaton rally for a 54-48 win over Brookville on Friday, Dec. 8.
Eaton’s Ramy Ahmed scored 12 of his team-high 18 point in the fourth quarter to lead the Eagles to a 54-48 come-from-behind win over Brookville on Friday, Dec. 8.
EATON – Facing a nine-point deficit to begin the fourth quarter, Sean Sims said he never felt like his team didn’t have a chance to make a comeback.
Eaton turned up the defensive pressure over the final eight minutes to rally for a 54-48 win over visiting Brookville on Friday, Dec. 8 to begin Southwestern Buckeye League play.
The Eagles forced the Blue Devils into five turnovers in the final frame as thye outscored the visitors 22-7 to earn their third straight win to begin the season.
Now 3-0, Eaton is off to its best start since the 2016-17 season.
“Incredible win for us,” Sims said. “A huge step for us as a team. We just kept battling for the first three quarters and you know, we didn’t have the lead, but we were just right there in the thick of it. And we knew that if we stayed composed, and played hard and play together, that we’d give ourselves a good chance.”
Brookville committed just 10 turnovers on the night, but half came in the crucial fourth quarter.
“I’m just super, super proud of the response from our guys,” Sims said. “Fourth quarter we were able to key in and get some really good stops. Follow that up with some high IQ offense. And we went 12 or 13 from the free throw line. We talked about just how important some of those numbers are down the stretch. I think that was just super beneficial for us.”
Conner Bach and Ramy Ahmed each scored 18 for the Eagles.
Bach scored 12 of his points in the second half, while Ahmed scored 12 of his points in the fourth quarter.
“Connor has kind of been in a little bit of a slump the first couple games, but he spent a lot of time getting back in the gym getting his shot and his footwork back and it was just really nice to see a couple of drop for him,” Sims said. “We have high expectations for him. He’s a great player, works hard, puts a lot of time in and we expect that from him. To have two guys to score 18 with him and Ramy, it makes us pretty tough to guard.”
Sims said defense was the key to the turnaround.
“It was huge. We knew that we needed to kind of pick up the defensive physicality a little bit to just kind of force them into stuff,” he said. “We knew if we could get them to try to just run a lot of half-court offense that might be our best chance.”
Eaton had to overcame a rough third quarter.
Trailing 23-21 at the half, Eaton was hit with a technical foul to begin the second half when a player dunked during warmups.
Brookville took advantage and raced out to 33-24 lead. The Blue Devils maintained that advantage until early in the fourth.
“I thought we played really well to start the second half. Earned a nine-point lead and had all the momentum, but I told the guys we got to play through waves where they’re going to make shots, whether the storm be resilient,” Brookville coach Jeff Davidson said.
“We failed to make a couple consecutive right decisions and they made a couple of big shots. We didn’t execute defensively on their dribble weave. We didn’t execute defensively on a baseline out of bounds play that we showed them, we talked about. We gambled and they got a layup. And as that lead shrunk our resiliency did too.
Davidson, whose team lost for the fist time in three games, said they will use this game a teaching moment.
“This is an opportunity for us to learn and get better as a team. That falls within our decision making,” he said. “If we just continue to run our offense and back cut and fill. They’re guarding very hard on the perimeter, and we allowed it. I mean, their style is to kind of play that 30-foot bully defense but if we break through that, then we get to the paint now we make decisions and score.”
Brendan Fisher and Braeden Smart each had 14 to the lead the Blue Devils. Dominic King added 12.
Eaton (3-0, 1-0 SWBL) was scheduled to travel to Oakwood on Tuesday, Dec. 12 with hopes of keeping the momentum going. Eaton is scheduled to host Valley View on Friday,
“I’m super proud of our boys,” Sims said. “I’m super proud of our fans, our environment. We had a great game. Pink Out. Band was awesome. The cheerleaders were awesome. Parents’ support was awesome. And I just hope people continue to follow us, support us and keep rocking with the Eagles.”
Brookville (3-1, 0-1 SWBL), which bounced back to knock off Arcnaum 55-46 on Saturday, returns to action on Tuesday with a home game against Waynesville. They will travel to Middletown Madison on Friday.
Reach Eddie Mowen Jr. at 937-683-4061 and follow on X @emowejr.
