TRUMBULL ATHLETIC CONFERENCE Cooper sparks Falls against Brookfield

His 19 points and 15 rebounds led the Tigers to a 62-54 victory.
By CHUCK HOUSTEAU
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
NEWTON FALLS -- The Newton Falls High boys basketball team had too much Alex Cooper for Brookfield to handle Tuesday.
The senior center poured in 19 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead the Tigers to a 62-54 win in a Trumbull Athletic Conference game.
Cooper scored seven of his points in the fourth quarter as the Tigers outscored Brookfield 21-11 in the final eight minutes to overcome a 43-41 third-quarter deficit.
"Alex has been playing really well lately," said Newton Falls coach Roy Sembach. "He's scoring, he's rebounding and now he's doing a much better job at the foul line.
"He had a monster game."
Inspired Tigers
Cooper's effort seemed to inspire the entire Tiger team late in the game after the teams battled evenly the first three quarters.
"The strongest part of our game is inside," Cooper said. "I was trying the hardest I could to do the best for the team. They threw the ball in to me and I did what I could with it.
"I had a shorter guy guarding me most of the time so I thought I could take advantage of that and make the shots."
While Cooper led the way offensively -- guard Kirby Spahlinger had 14 points -- a defense that harassed the Warriors through the first three periods might have wore down Brookfield.
"I thought we played an outstanding fourth quarter," Sembach said. "We played the type of basketball you need to play going into the tournament.
"We played fundamentally sound basketball," Sembach added. "We got the ball inside and also hit the open outside shots while making them take tough shots and rebounding the basketball."
Warriors stayed close
Despite Newton Falls' strong effort, Brookfield only trailed by two points, 52-50, with 3:13 remaining in the game.
Guard Luke Mortimer scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half to keep the Warriors in the game.
The Tigers pulled away by outscoring the Warriors 12-4 in the final three minutes.
"They may have wore us down because they go much deeper than us," said Brookfield coach Chris Fahndrich. "But after 16 games, we are used to playing like this."
Brookfield also got a strong game out of senior Mike Quaglia, who scored 15 points, while Chris Davis added 12.
Eight players scored for Newton Falls, which also owned a huge rebounding edge over the Warriors, 33-21.