Meadowbrook thrashes Cosby in region tourney

An honorable-mention all-Central District selection as a junior, Doug Brewer could've chosen to sulk when his coach decided he would be more valuable to his team coming off the bench this season.

Instead, Meadowbrook's 6-2 senior embraced the new role and tried to make the best of it.

Brewer played it to perfection last night, scoring 12 of his game-high 18 points in the first half as the visiting Monarchs overcame a slow start and cruised past Cosby 77-47 in a first-round Central Region tournament game.

"I've asked Coach [Ksaan Brown] what I have to do to be a starter, but he wants me to be a spark off the bench, and I'm just doing my part," Brewer said after the victory, which earned Meadowbrook a quarterfinal matchup against Highland Springs tonight.

Sophomore center Matt Gorski scored 15 points and senior Patrick McDaniel added 13 in his final high school game for Cosby (14-12). The Titans, who were trying to reach the regional quarterfinals for the second consecutive season, hung with Meadowbrook for the better part of the first half before being outscored by 20 over the final two quarters.

"It looked like we didn't have anything left in the tank after last week," Cosby coach Ron Carr said, noting his team's impressive run to the Dominion District tournament final before a last-second loss to Huguenot. "Our cuts were slow, our passes were late . . . we didn't look in sync and it got worse as the night went on."

Cosby clearly had no answer for Brewer. He entered the game with the Monarchs trailing 8-6, then scored his team's next eight points to spark a 13-4 run. Two of his first three baskets were 3-pointers, a major bonus for a player who was shooting less than 10 percent from beyond the 3-point arc this season.

"Doug is at his best when he's slashing and attacking the basket. We usually don't like him shooting beyond midrange, but he was feeling it tonight," Brown said.

Brewer buried a baseline jumper at the buzzer to give Meadowbrook a 31-21 halftime lead, then mostly watched his teammates continue their offensive onslaught in the second half. After hitting only four of their first 16 field goal attempts, the Monarchs made 29 of 50 over the final three quarters and finished the game at 50 percent.

Gorski tried to keep Cosby within striking distance by scoring eight points in the third quarter, but Meadowbrook's aggressive defense limited Dominion District player of the year David Robinson to only five points.

Andrew Simmons added 16 points for Meadowbrook. Eleven of the 14 Monarchs who got into the game scored at least two points.

"It's not about who starts, but who finishes," Brown said. "If you play well, you're going to be on the floor."

MEADOWBROOK (18-7)

Harmon 0, Martin 5, Aiken 2, Brewer 18, Daniel 0, Davis 8, Tucker 4, Branch 4, Mormon 4, Coble 9, Simmons 16, Jackson-Davis 4, Daily 2, Denard 0. Totals 33 5-11 77.
COSBY (14-12)

Cole 0, Hinton 0, Cunningham 5, LaRose 0, McDaniel 13, Hardison 0, Smith 0, Robinson 5, Zackon 0, Higbie 2, Floyd 0, Virak 2, Hoepner 5, Gorski 15. Totals 15 16-26 47.
Meadowbrook ------------------------- 11 20 22 24 -- 77
Cosby ------------------------- 10 11 15 11 -- 47

3-point goals: M -- Simmons 3, Brewer 2, Martin. C -- McDaniel.