Boys basketball: Sean Barnett, Trey Drexler lead Brunswick over Avon Lake

AVON LAKE — The high-scoring Brunswick duo of Sean Barnett and Trey Drexler made the TikTokers go wild Friday night, combining for 67 points in an efficient and dominant 74-58 non-league win over Avon Lake in the season opener for both teams. The Blue Devil duo got their legs and keyed a monster second quarter as Brunswick turned a 12-9 lead after one into a 36-22 advantage at intermission. Barnett (35 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 steals) and Drexler (32, 5 assists) each buried three triples in the second frame. Until the final 1:25 of the half, they had accounted for 31 of their team's 32 points. Blayke Hamilton had the other point after splitting a pair of free throws in the first quarter. "We started a little slow," Drexler said. "I don't think we did anything different. I'd just say that we hit a few shots and then we started hearing the crowd getting into it. I just think the momentum of the game helped us take over and start making shots." Barnett buried eight triples on the night and Drexler had five. "I feel like if that is something we have to do and we are more than capable of getting it done," Barnett said of the pair's offensive explosion. "We have a really good team and when Drew Matus comes back we will really be able to space the floor. We are going to do a lot of great things to help us win some games this year." It was a typical strong defensive effort that helped spark the offense, plus a tremendous effort from Adin Evert on the glass. "We are really undersized this year," Evert said. "I am coming back from football and my injury and Coach (Joe) Mackey told me if my shots aren't falling to get a rebound. That was huge." Evert was at times unstoppable on the glass and hauled in a career-high 17 rebounds, with 10 of those coming on the offensive end. "Adin makes a lot of game-winning plays," Barnett said. "I think he is a college player. People in the stands that are like normal fans (may not notice), but college scouts will take notice of that when he gets 17, 18 rebounds, which is hard to do at the high school level, especially at the Division I, Region 1 level. It's just a bunch of winning plays he's making." Evert was also the next highest-scoring player with four points, but several other players contributed in ways that didn't show in the scorebook. Starters Hamilton and Luke Stella played tremendous perimeter defense and Abi Prince gave Brunswick good defensive minutes off the bench as well. "Everyone obviously looks at the scoring, but if we are going to be a good team we need people to do that," Drexler said. The top six players in the rotation each had at least one steal, with Hamilton finishing with four. Barnett turned three of his steals into two-handed dunks. His final swipe and slam put his team in front 65-38 just 10 seconds into the final quarter. Mackey pulled Barnett and Drexler with 3:35 left in the game and the Shoremen went on an 11-0 run. Avon Lake was led by Liam Besaw's 21 points on 4-of-7 3-point shooting and Christopher Gaulding's 14 points and seven boards. Contact Chad Grant at sports@medina-gazette.com. Brunswick 74, Avon Lake 58 BRUNSWICK &emsp;&emsp;12 24 27 11 — 74 AVON LAKE &emsp;&emsp;9 &emsp;&emsp;12 16 20 — 58 Brunswick — Luke Stella 0-0-0, Sean Barnett 13-1-35, Adin Evert 2-0-4, Blayke Hamilton 0-1-1, Trey Drexler 11-5-32, Abi Prince 1-0-2, Brandt Almady 0-0-0, Dirk Ziegler 0-0-0. TOTALS: 27-7-74. Avon Lake — Christopher Gaulding 7-0-14, J.J. Bradley 2-0-4, Tucker Budzak 3-2-8, Liam Besaw 8-1-21, Mason Ambrose 0-0-0, Jacob Cooke 1-0-3, Luke Gillespie 3-0-6, Jeffery Ball 1-0-2, Juewlius Ross 0-0-0, Chase Cartwright 0-0-0 . TOTALS: . 3-point goals — Barnett 8, Drexler 5, Besaw 4, Cooke. Rebounds — Brunswick 30 (Evert 17), Avon Lake 26 (Gaulding 7). Assists — Brunswick 13 (Drexler 5), Avon Lake 9 (Ambrose, Besaw, Bradley 2. Records — Brunswick (1-0), Avon Lake (0-1). Junior varsity — Brunswick 57, Avon Lake 30 (B: Dom Fenton 13 points).