The Cubs held off the Brentwood Eagles and won 57-50.  This game was particularly special for Head Coach Jamal Adams ‘90, who achieved his 300th career win.

Cubs Starters:

PG: John Belardi, #12 (6’3”, G, Jr.)

SG: Andre Parris, #13 (6’3”, G/F, Sr.)

SF: Jack Kresich, #10 (6’7”, F, Jr.)

PF: Remington Rofer, #35 (6’8”, F, Jr.)

C: Colby Brooks, #20 (6’7”, F/C, Sr.)

1st Quarter

Colby Brooks, matched up against Brentwood’s 6’10” center, got the opening tip for the Cubs.  The Cubs’ first points came off of Parris’ two made free-throws at the 7:29 mark. The Eagles were called for an offensive foul with 7 minutes left, but the Cubs couldn’t get a bucket.  Brooks’ two-pointer gave the Cubs a 4-0 lead with 5:50 to go. Remington Rofer got a block on Brentwood’s big man at the 5:30 mark, but missed the shot. Brooks got sent to the line again with 4:45 to go and made both free-throws.  The Cubs led 6-0. The Eagles got their first points of the game on a two-pointer with 4:20 left in the quarter. Rofer answered with two points of his own, and the Cubs led 8-2. The Eagles came back and swished a three at the 3:30 mark.  Rofer was there again with another two-pointer to put the Cubs up by five, 10-5, with 3:30 remaining. Back-to-back buckets by the Eagles and Kresich made it a 12-7 game with 2:50 to go. The Cubs had their first substitution at the 2:17 mark, with Grant Roquemore and Uriel Ferguson checking in for Belardi and Rofer.  Roquemore made both free-throws to give the Cubs a seven-point cushion with 2:17 left. Christian Sucuveanu checked in for Colby Brooks. The Eagles buried another three at the two-minute mark. Jalen Cox and Trent Turner checked in for Kresich and Parris at the 1:39 mark. Sucuveanu was fouled and made one of two free throws with 37 seconds left.

Score: Cubs 15, Eagles 10

2nd Quarter

The Cubs got the possession to start the quarter, but turned it over to the Eagles.  On the next Cubs possession, Cox was called for a travel at the 7:17 mark. Uri got a steal, but made a bad pass resulting in another Cubs turnover.  Cox got a steal, which led to a Roquemore layup and a 17-10 Cubs lead with 6:30 left in the half. The Eagles soared in for a putback layup for their first points of the quarter at the 5:55 mark.  Belardi made a jumper at the 5:20 mark, but the Eagles answered with two of their own. The Cubs led 19-14. Brooks got a putback two off of Rofer’s missed three with 3:50 remaining. The Eagles’ jumper made it a 21-16 ball game with 3:33 left in the half.  Kresich’s three gave the Cubs an eight-point lead with 3:24 left. On the ensuing possession, a Belardi steal led to a nifty pass by Kresich but Parris couldn’t hit the layup. The Eagles’ two brought them within six, 24-18, with three minutes until halftime.  Sucuveanu checked back in for Rofer at the 2:38 mark. The Eagles buried a three off of the inbounds pass. A seven-point Cubs lead was withered down to three with 2:30 left. Kresich’s jumper put the Cubs up five, 26-21, with under two minutes to go. Brooks got a steal and Parris got the bucket in transition with 1:33 left.  The Cubs began utilizing full-court press on the next possession. The Eagles went on a 5-0 run as the Cubs’ lead dwindled down to two with 55 seconds left. A hectic possession got the Cubs the ball, and Belardi was fouled with 23 seconds left. He made both free throws to make it a four-point game going into the locker room.

Score: Cubs 30, Eagles 27

3rd Quarter

The Cubs got the possession again to start the second half. An Eagles steal could not lead to a bucket.  The Eagles tied the game at 30 with a three at the 6:20 mark. An offensive foul was called on Belardi with 6:05 to go, and Uri subbed in for him.  Rofer, whose goal is to average a charge per game this season, got one at the 5:46 mark. Kresich missed a jumper with 5:25 to go. A Cubs foul sent the Eagles to the line, where they hit one of two free-throws to take back the lead with 5:14 left.  Uri lost the ball on the next possession, but the Eagles blew a layup. Rofer made one of two free throws to tie the game at 31 with 4:43 to go. Uri committed another turnover coming down the court, but the Eagles’ three went in-and-out. The Eagles buried their next three to gain a 34-31 lead over the Cubs with 3:30 left.  Cox and Roquemore checked in for Belardi and Rofer at the 3:15 mark. Brooks’ three-point-play tied the game at 34 with three minutes left in the period. The Eagles buried another two to regain the lead with 2:12 left. Parris answered with two on the other end, and the game was tied again at 36 with about a minute to go. Belardi’s triple gave the Cubs the lead at the 43-second mark.  A G-Roq jam sent the bench into a frenzy and gave the Cubs a five-point lead with 30 seconds left. Brentwood’s three rolled out at the buzzer.

Score: Cubs 41, Eagles 36

4th Quarter

Once again, the Cubs got the first possession of the quarter, and Belardi missed a three.  Three Cub fouls in a minute and 16 seconds resulted in five of six made free throws by the Eagles, and the game was suddenly tied at 41.  Brooks’ triple gave the Cubs a 44-41 lead with 6:16 left. Brooks scored again and the Cubs led by five with 5:37 to play. Brooks comes up with a steal, but loses the ball out of bounds at the 5:08 mark.  Rofer gets another block at the 4:55 mark, but the Eagles maintain possession. They turned it over to the Cubs and Brooks scored two more to increase the Cubs’ lead to seven, 48-41, with 4:34 left. Roquemore got a layup off of a Kresich steal, and the Cubs reached the half-century mark with 4:20 to go.  The Cubs’ 9-0 run was halted by two made Eagles free throws to bring the game to a 50-43 deficit. After a Roquemore rejection, the Eagles got a putback layup and were within striking distance with a five-point deficit at the 3:40 mark. Rofer’s two made free throws put the Cubs up 52-45 with 3:05 left to play.  Belardi got a steal at the 2:36 mark, but couldn’t come up with a bucket. Belardi was sent to the free-throw line, but missed both with 2:13 left. Two made Eagles free-throws brought the deficit back to five, 52-47 with 1:22 to go. Brooks made both of his free throws to expand the Cubs’ lead to seven at the 1:13 mark.  The Eagles were sent to the line again, but made one of two free throws with under a minute to go. The Cubs called two timeouts at 47 seconds and 40 seconds. Belardi made two free-throws to give the Cubs an eight-point cushion, 56-48, with 38 seconds to play. The Eagles got two more at the 30-second mark. Belardi was at the line again, and made one of two free-throws to secure the Cubs victory with 15 seconds left.  The Eagles missed a three, Roquemore grabbed the rebound, and the game was put in the refrigerator.

FINAL: Cubs 57, Eagles 50.

Postgame

The Cubs placed third in the Paul Sutton Tip-Off Classic.

After recording his 300th win, coach Adams said, “It feels awesome.  It’s a testament to being around a while and the most important part is that I’ve had a lot of good players that have contributed to this.  It’s a really cool cumulative milestone.” Even though this achievement came against his best friend, Adams said it felt great. Adams says the key to closing out in late-game situations is muscle memory.  “The things that we aren’t doing well right now, we’ll start to understand those and do well going forward. I really think that this team is one of those teams that’s just gonna keep getting better all year if they stick to the program, and I’m excited about where we might be in another month and in two months from now.  That’s the plan.”

Cub of the Game

The Cub of the Game was Colby Brooks, who recorded 18 points and received All-Tournament team honors.  On the achievement, Brooks said, “It feels good, but I give credit to my teammates for helping me get there, passing the ball and getting offensive rebounds.  It was just a collaborative effort. On defense, he said the team has to improve on help defense, especially on big men. Offensively, Brooks says the team has to improve on kicking the ball out to the three-point line.

The Next Game

The Cubs face Mira Costa in their home-opener at Leavey Gymnasium on Friday, November 29, at 7:00 pm.  Brooks says the fans can expect a high-paced game. “We’re going to get lobs. Expect it. Be ready.”