TRUMBULL ATHLETIC CONFERENCE Balanced Bulldogs battle past Brookfield for TAC title

Lakeview outscored the Warriors 16-8 down the stretch to seal the win.
By CHUCK HOUSTEAU
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
BROOKFIELD -- On any given night for the Lakeview High boys basketball team, any player in the eight-man rotation used by coach Larry Herrholtz can hit a big shot.
Against Brookfield, senior Mike Olesh made only one field goal, but his 3-point shot with 7 minutes, 15 seconds left might have been the biggest one of the season.
It helped jump-start the Lakeview offense in the final quarter and keyed the Bulldogs to a 58-46 victory and an outright Trumbull Athletic Conference championship.
"Somebody has to step up every night," Olesh said. "Big shots happen on this team all the time and this time it just happened to be mine tonight."
On a night when shots weren't falling very often, Olesh unleashed an NBA 3-pointer as the Bulldogs clung to a one-point lead in a closely-contested contest.
Pulling away
The basket gave Lakeview a 42-38 lead and an open lane to the league title. The Bulldogs (17-3, 13-1) outscored the Warriors 16-8 to seal the win.
"Michael has the green light to shoot," Herrholtz said. "I thought Michael stepped up when he was open. He's been a great player for us all year.
"He came out here with a bruised hip. He's only at 85 percent," Herrholtz added. "He still guarded [Brookfield's] Sam King. That's a credit to Michael Olesh and the work he put into this program."
As usual, Olesh had a lot of help. All eight Bulldogs scored and contributed on defense.
Matt Nero led Lakeview with 14 points, while Chuck Williams added 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Brent McCullough also scored 10 points, while point guard Joey Opalka-Brown chipped in with eight points and seven rebounds.
Back and forth
It looked like the Bulldogs wanted to make an early night of the Warriors. Lakeview hit six of its first nine shots and opened an 11-point lead midway through the first quarter.
But to Brookfield's credit, it came back and made a game of it quickly.
The Warriors (10-10, 4-10) went on a 16-4 run to eventually grab a 24-23 lead three minutes before halftime. Luke Mortimer scored six of his 10 points in the period to lead the charge.
Brookfield had three other players score 10 points in the game. Senior Mike Quaglia, Chris Davis and King each scored in double figures. Quaglia also pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.
"I think we were a little nervous at the start," said Brookfield coach Chris Fahndrich on his team's slow start. "Once we settled down, we played well.
"We played hard all night. That's something we've been able to do all year," Fahndrich added. "We have some hard-nosed kids. For four years, they've always been hard-nosed."
That style enabled Lakeview to go to the foul line 25 times to just four for the Warriors. Lakeview made 16 of those free tosses.
"We didn't want to share this title with anyone," Herrholtz said. "We didn't want any help either. We wanted to earn it."