Boys basketball: Sean Barnett steps up, leads Brunswick to win over Cleveland Heights

CLEVELAND HTS. — Brunswick senior forward Sean Barnett showed again why he and guard Trey Drexler are one of the best duos in the state. Missing reigning Gazette MVP Drexler, who sat out with a calf injury, Barnett turned in a fourth quarter for the ages Tuesday and helped the Blue Devils win a physical 49-47 Greater Cleveland Conference clash with Cleveland Heights. No shot was bigger than him driving and sustaining contact on a layup at the buzzer to seal the win for Brunswick (10-1, 5-0). "I owed it to my teammates," Barnett said. "I was talking to the people out in front. I said 'No disrespect, but I am a good player, and I am going to win the game in the fourth quarter.' Good players, good teams, they take over at the end of the game." Barnett gathered the ball in the corner, saving a near turnover, drove past his defender and finished at the rim against a physical defensive play in a highlight-reel closer, setting of a raucous celebration. "The refs did an incredible job the whole time," Barnett said. "I saw a little grab (before the pass), so I knew something was going to happen. As soon as I saw the overthrow on the pass, I knew to beat the defender to the spot, and I knew the defender was going to gamble because they were gambling the whole game. I just spun off him and did a great thing." Contact was a big part of the matchup, with the Cleveland Heights defense focusing all its energy on the 6-foot-5 Barnett. Barnett (22 points, 7 rebounds) scored all 14 of his team's points in the final eight minutes, and he did so in a variety of ways. "I can finally sleep," Barnett said. "It really wasn't my best game but, like I said before, I owed it to my teammates. I started off slow in the first half, came out in the second half and did my thing and we won the game." He hit a pair of 3-pointers and four inside buckets, and every basket was critical as the Blue Devils entered the fourth quarter even with the Tigers (5-3, 2-2) at 35. Barnett's first triple extended the Brunswick lead to 40-35 and his second made it 45-41 with 4:41 left. He then capped a two-minute possession with a layup to give his team a 47-45 lead with 35 second left That critical possession was kept alive by a monster offensive rebound from Adin Evert (10 points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists). Cleveland Heights point guard Jhayce Boyd (9 points) answered with nine seconds remaining to tie at 47, setting up Barnett's incredible game-winning hoop. Without the early efforts of Evert and Drew Matus (16 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists), the finish might not have been possible. "All year my main focus is getting every rebound," Evert said. "A Tuesday night road game in the conference, Coach (Joe) Mackey always talks about toughness. Going into the game I wanted to show that I was the toughest guy out there." Evert also hit two big 3-pointers for the Blue Devils' only points as they fell behind 13-6 with 2:55 left in the opening quarter. Then Matus started firing, scoring 15 of the Blue Devils' next 19 points to help Brunswick pull in front 25-16. The Matus run helped Brunswick outscore Tigers 19-5 over an explosive four-minute stretch. "It was important because (Drexler) does a lot for our team," Matus said of his performance. "Normally he is the one that can get into the paint and make all those plays for us and get other guys their shots. It was a big role and I was trying to get that going to bring us out of that drought we were in. We started off pretty cold, but it felt pretty good to lead us in that first half." With Drexler sitting, Prince Abi moved into the starting lineup. While he didn't score, he had four rebounds, an assist and, most importantly, zero turnovers. Brandt Almady also played meaningful varsity minutes for the first time in his career and had three offensive rebounds, an assist and just one turnover. Contact Chad Grant at sports@medina-gazette.com. Brunswick 49, Cleveland Heights 47 BRUNSWICK &emsp;&emsp; &emsp;&emsp;17 11 7 14 — 49 CLEVELAND HEIGHTS 16 7 12 12 — 47 Brunswick — Sean Barnett 9-1-22, Luke Stella 0-1-1, Adin Evert 4-0-10, Drew Matus 6-1-16, Prince Abi 0-0-0, Brandt Almady 0-0-0. TOTALS: 19-3-49. Cleveland Heights — Jarnell Stephens 4-10-19, Noah Blue 2-2-6, Dean Solomon 1-0-2, Charles Butler 1-2-4, Jhayce Boyd 4-1-9, Messiah Williams 3-0-7, Chace Nixon 0-0-0, Christian Williams 0-0-0. TOTALS: 15-15-47. 3-point goals — Barnett 3, Matus 3, Evert 2. Rebounds — Brunswick 32 (Evert 14), Cleveland Heights 24 (Blue, Stephens, M. Williams 6). Assists — Brunswick 12 (Evert, Matus 4), Cleveland Heights 3 (Boyd 2). Records — Brunswick (10-1, 5-0), Cleveland Heights (5-3, 2-2). Junior varsity — Cleveland Heights 50, Brunswick 47 (B: Adam Lombardo 15, Dom Fenton 14).