Boys district basketball: Sean Barnett's game for the ages propels Brunswick to regionals

COPLEY TWP. — Sean Barnett moshed with the student section before holding the Division I, Northeast 3 District championship trophy above his head in one hand while motioning to the Brunswick boys basketball team's faithful in the other. The crowd roared with approval, still trying to process the absurdity of what they had witnessed. The man of the people was simply The Man when no one else believed in the Blue Devils after losing superstar Trey Drexler to a season-ending broken left wrist. Luke Stella definitely set the stage with the first quarter of his life, but Barnett had a scoring performance for the ages as top-seeded Brunswick technically upset No. 6 Perrysburg 58-44 Saturday afternoon. Barnett scored a career-high 33 points. That wasn't the real story. What was? The 6-foot-5 senior scored 29 straight points for the Blue Devils (21-3) from the last bucket of the first quarter until Stella made two free throws with 3:17 to go. "This is adversity, you know?" said Barnett, whose team advanced to play Elyria (18-6) at the University of Akron's James A. Rhodes Arena on Wednesday. "Coach (Joe) Mackey was talking about it the whole time. I mean, I can't really describe Coach Mackey as a coach. He's one-of-one type of coach. When (Drexler) got hurt, he just got us all into his game plan. All of us bought in going into this game, and you saw the results out on the floor." Barnett had three assists as Brunswick roared to a stunning 18-6 lead that featured three Stella 3-pointers — the senior glue guy had only five on the season coming in — and began his scoring binge as the Blue Devils pushed to a high water mark of 27-8 with 4:41 remaining in the half. The Yellow Jackets (17-7), who jumped into Brunswick's bracket almost instantly at the tournament draw, ended the period on a 9-0 run to stay afloat. Barnett kept scoring as Brunswick stayed true to a five-out offense that wasn't necessarily concerned with burning clock but instead forcing bigger, slower Perrysburg to the perimeter. Having already scored all seven of the Blue Devils' points in the second, he had nine more in the third while the lead slowly began to evaporate. Hot shooting from Ben Pamer (18 points) and Tyson Bower (14) cut the score to 39-35 early in the fourth when Barnett, who opened Brunswick's scoring in the quarter with a 3-pointer to extend his streak to 21 points, had his signature sequence. The Flagler (Fla.) recruit completed a three-point play, made two more free throws and, just seconds after motioning to the crowd for the first time, got a steal that led to another three-point play. What was once a four-point lead teetering on the brink of a titanic collapse went to 47-35. The Yellow Jackets never threatened again because the Blue Devils made 13 of their final 14 free throw attempts to improve to .745 on the season. "Without (Drexler), you need your other scholarship kid to be special," Mackey said. "He was exactly that. He was special tonight. "He told me, 'Coach, I love the game plan. I feel great about it.' He wouldn't let us lose this game." Known for sharing the ball but also having to adjust without Drexler's high usage rate, Brunswick spent weeks of practice honing in a spread offense. Soon it became clear that the Yellow Jackets, who had six rotational players between 6-3 and 6-7, were going to sag off Stella, a completely reasonable strategy considering the four other starters are statistically better 3-point threats. Stella made them pay, making two free throws before connecting on his first 3-point attempt, then his second, then his third that made him 8-for-33 (.242) on the season. The latter made the score 16-4, while Drew Matus pushed to 18-4 with a short pull-up jumper and Barnett's putback started his streak and kept the lead at 14 heading into the second quarter. The tone was established. The on-paper underdog, which lost to Perrysburg with Drexler during the preseason, had all the confidence in the world. "I know all week I was working on my shot," Stella said. "I haven't been the best shooter, but I started the game 3-for-3. I was losing my mind. I don't know what it was. "We were playing hard defense. We missed a few switch-outs, but besides that we had them locked down hard." Once Barnett took over, Brunswick was so dialed into doing whatever it had to do to win that no one had the slightest inkling Barnett had scored 29 straight. Other than the 8-0 run in the fourth, most of his points were within the context of the offense, and his unselfish teammates instinctively realized their main offensive goal was to get Barnett into scoring position. Word spread quickly during the net-cutting ceremony, with eyes so wide that few believed one player scoring 29 straight was even possible. "That's ... the craziest thing I've ever heard," Stella said. "Twenty-nine straight? That's got to be some sort of record. Twenty-nine straight points?! I've never heard of that, ever. "He's just our guy, really. We think he's the best player on the court at all times and, especially since losing (Drexler), he's taken a step up." Barnett, who was more excited that he passed brother Quinn (891 points, 2021-24) for 10th place on the school's career scoring list with 914 points, had a logical explanation. It may take him years, however, to realize he pulled off one of the greatest one-man postseason shows in Medina County history. "One play at a time, really," he said. "When I can get a bucket, I'll try to go get a bucket and do whatever I can to make sure we take this game. "One of my teammates just told me (about the 29-point streak) after the game. I'm surprised by it but, dude, I'm a college player. That's what I have to do. That's what good players do, especially in an atmosphere like this." Contact Albert Grindle at (330) 721-4043 or agrindle@medina-gazette.com. Brunswick 58, Perrysburg 44 Division I, Northeast 3 District Final PERRYSBURG &emsp;&emsp;6 11 14 13 — 44 BRUNSWICK &emsp;&emsp;20 7 9 22 — 58 Perrysburg — Brady Maxwell 1-0-2, Braylon Foster 2-2-7, Evan Sterling 0-0-0, Ben Pamer 7-0-18, Adam Gray 1-0-3, Andrew Charpie 0-0-0, Tyso Bower 6-1-14, Ethan DeVries 0-0-0, Ben Seuberling 0-0-0, Reed Gerken 0-0-0, Joel Manges 0-0-0, Kaleb Kirian 0-0-0. TOTALS: 17-3-44. Brunswick — Luke Stella 4-4-15, Sean Barnett 11-7-33, Adin Evert 1-4-7, Blayke Hamilton 0-1-1, Drew Matus 1-0-2, Prince Abi 0-0-0. TOTALS: 17-16-58. 3-point goals — Pamer 4, Foster, Gray, Bower, Barnett 4, Stella 3, Evert. Rebounds — Perrysburg 14 (Gray 4), Brunswick 18 (Evert 8). Assists — Perrysburg 8 (Gray, DeVries 3), Brunswick 7 (Barnett 3). Records — Perrysburg (17-7), Brunswick (21-3).