43
Brown leads LaBrae over Niles
By Steve ruman
NILES
With a conference title already secured and with the tournament 10 days away, LaBrae coach Chad Kiser warned his team about the consequences of going through the motions in the final three games of the regular season.
On Friday, the Vikings heeded Kiser’s advice.
Thanks in large part to a 14-point performance from Carlton Brown, the Vikings raced to a 32-17 halftime lead, then cruised to a 65-46 road win over Niles.
Brown scored 12 of his points before intermission to help the Vikings (15-5) build a double-digit lead they never surrendered. Caelan Hylan added 12 points for the visitors, who had 10 players make at least one field goal.
Niles was paced by freshman Cylar Kane-Johsnon, who tallied a game-high 17 points — including six 3-pointers. Cylar is the younger brother of Niles senior Cameron Kane-Johnson (26.7 points per game), the area’s scoring leader.
Cameron was on the floor for the opening tip on what was Senior Night at Veteran’s Memorial Gymnasium. However, he was immediately removed and sat out the contest because of a nagging ankle injury.
“It’s definitely a little easier when the best scorer in the county is out, but I thought our defensive pressure was really good in the first half, and that set the tempo,” Kiser said. “Early on we did a good job of pressuring and not fouling. We were able to set the tempo early on, and that got us going.”
Brown scored eight of LaBrae’s first 11 points as the Vikings opened a 13-7 lead after one period. In a 19-point second quarter, seven different Viking players scored one basket apiece, while Brown added a pair of free throws.
LaBrae dished out a season-high 22 assists. The willingness to make an extra pass to find the open player underneath the basket earned high praise from Kiser.
“Our distribution was really solid, we were able to get open baskets because of our ball movement,” he said. “Early in the season we were settling for the quick shot, shooting too many 3s. Tonight we were moving the ball from one side to the other, going inside then kicking it back out.
“Even when we shot the 3 tonight, they were quality shots.”
For Niles, scoring has been a struggle without Cameron Kane-Johnson. Last Saturday, the Red Dragons led Cardinal Mooney by nine points in the latter stages of the third quarter when Kane-Johnson went down with the injury. They were outscored by 21 points the remainder of the game. Then on Tuesday, the Dragons suffered a 22-point defeat at Howland.
“It’s a struggle without Cam, but regardless you have to give a lot of credit to LaBrae,” said Niles coach Ron Price. “That’s a very good team, they are well coached and they have quality players.
“I’m proud of our kids. They fought hard from start to finish and they did some good things out there, but we just didn’t have enough.”
LaBrae, the second-seeded team in the Warren Division III district, has two more games before the tournament. Kiser hopes his team finishes with the same type of intensity it displayed Friday.
“Some teams, they coast into the tournament, but I told our guys that the tournament started tonight,” Kiser said. “I want us playing our best. I want to head into the tournament strong.”