Sophomore forward Brody Bruns picked apart the 1-3-1 Morris zone defense on Saturday, scoring a career-high 34 points while grabbing 14 rebounds to earn a double-double and lead the Rochelle Hubs during their Interstate 8 Conference varsity basketball matchup.
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ROCHELLE — Sophomore forward Brody Bruns picked apart the 1-3-1 Morris zone defense on Saturday, scoring a career-high 34 points while grabbing 14 rebounds to earn a double-double and lead the Rochelle Hubs during their Interstate 8 Conference varsity basketball matchup.
In a back-and-forth offensive display that saw Bruns fuel the Hubs and forward Jack Wheeler shine with 38 points for Morris, Rochelle emerged with an 85-78 victory behind a stellar shooting performance. The Hubs (4-10, 1-2 Interstate 8) converted over 61 percent of their field goals while shooting 40 percent from 3-point range to overcome 20 turnovers in Saturday’s win. Rochelle will return to the court with a home matchup against Oregon on Tuesday evening.
“It’s a good confidence builder for our team,” said Bruns, who had six offensive rebounds in the game. “We’ve had a hard time finding wins the whole year and hopefully we’ll be able to start winning more games. My shot was working the whole day and it was easy for me to get my shots off. The rebounds were easy to get down low and that’s how I scored most of my points.”
Although Morris mixed up its defensive schemes, Bruns excelled at scoring against the team’s 1-3-1 zone, finding mismatches against weaker Morris defenders to put home shots around the basket. The Hubs found their way inside throughout the game, making 24 of their 33 baskets in the painted area. Rochelle, who held a 42-36 halftime lead over Morris, closed out the game with a strong offensive showing in the fourth quarter, where the team outscored Morris 26-17.
“They switched their defenses throughout the game, but they were mostly running a 1-3-1 zone and that’s how we were able to get the ball down low a lot,” Bruns said. “We were able to attack their weak spots. They had more of their strong defenders at the top of the zone and more of their weaker defenders at the bottom, so we kept passing it through and we would eventually find an open shot down low or in the corner… We just need to stay locked in and keep hustling.”
Rochelle sprinkled in perimeter shooting throughout the game, with senior guard Carson Lewis and junior guard Van Gerber combining for six made triples to keep the Hub offense rolling. Lewis finished with 15 points, four rebounds and two assists, while Gerber added 11 points and five assists. Senior guard Elijah Harley also had 11 points and five assists in the victory.
“We were hitting shots and when we’re hitting shots, we can score a lot of points,” Lewis said. “We were passing the ball to each other and our ball movement was good. It was more of an up-tempo game and coach [Thompson] has been wanting us to play more up-tempo. We haven’t done that much recently, but we’ve done that over the last two games and it’s helped us score a lot. We have to keep sharing the ball, hitting the open man and making open shots.”
Morris struggled from the 3-point line, finishing 2-for-17 for the game. Turnovers on the Rochelle side allowed Morris to stay in the game, however, as the Hubs committed 20 turnovers that led to 32 points on the Morris side. Both teams fared well from the free-throw line, as Rochelle went 11-for-14 and Morris went 18-for-22. The Hubs made 6-of-8 free throws in the fourth quarter.