The Azalea Briun boys basketball team, looking to continue their winning ways, hosted Crescent Elk Tuesday evening, in a match-up that brought Crescent Elk to Brookings looking for a win, after Azalea took the win earlier in the season in Crescent Elk’s gym.
Crescent Elk inspired from their earlier loss to the AZ Bruins forced the pace early, disrupting the Bruins offense and running on turnovers to break out to an early 2-9 lead at the midway point of the first period of play. Hank Flescher #34 and #23 Neric Garcia each scored for the AZ Bruins, as Crescent Elk extended an early 4-14 lead after the first period.
Azalea picked up the scoring in the second led by Deryk Farmer #24 with 4 points, their defense held Crescent Elk to just 2 points early in the second. But Crescent Elk added 10 points to their point total by the end of the period, taking a 13-24 lead into the half-time break.
Azalea came out of the locker room determined to attack the Crescent Elk defense under the basket. Deryk Farmer scored and Tristan Long #14 fearlessly drove into the lane, hitting two baskets and getting to the line four times. Crescent Elk continued to capitalize on Azalea turnovers, adding another 13 points in the third.
Azalea had many opportunities, but the just could not find the bottom of the basket with any consistency to create any momentum to string together points. Crescent Elk continued to score, as the AZ Bruins closed the gap to 9 points, adding 16 more points to their total to take the convincing win.
“Crescent Elk is a very good team, and tonight, they were the better team” coach Dustin Carmack said after the game. “Crescent Elk is the kind of team that challenges us and makes us a better team, and now we sit even at one game a piece, hopefully we will have a chance to see them again.”
Azalea will be on the road Thursday, traveling to Coquille for a 5:30 tip-off.
