03-11-16
BY JACK BULLOCK
PEORIA - Brandon Trimble has had some big nights but on Friday night at the 2A state tournament semifinals, he took over the biggest game of his young prep career in nearly every way imaginable.

This junior put on a clinic, scoring 44-points while grabbing 12-rebounds as his club pulled away for a 60-48 win over Breese Central.

The 6-foot-2 guard racked up the points with little defense from the Cougars as they advanced to Saturday night's title game.

He also nailed 13-of-14 free throws in the contest as he and his team improved to 23-9 on the season.

For the Cougars, they ran into a team that was even quicker than expected as they fell into the third place game as their record slipped to 31-5.

“We talked at halftime, we felt we didn't execute very well on both ends of the floor. I thought they did a great job of correcting those things on each end of the floor and obviously Brandon (Trimble) put on one heck of a performance.,” said St. Joseph-Ogden head coach Brian Brooks. “He's very athletic, he understands how to get open on his cuts and our guys understand how to get him open. He's a tough kid to guard.”

Central got 22-points from senior Logan Kohrmann, but the 6-foot-2 guard was saddled with four-fouls in the second half and spent some time on the bench.

Michel Rule came off the bench for the Cougars to net 15-points.

However Breese Central was just 20-of-47 from the floor and were outscored 33-15 in the second half.

Coach Jeremy Shubert saw his club hit just 6-of-17 from the 3-point arc.

Trimble went on a personal scoring run in the third quarter, netting 15-straight points for the Spartans.

Trailing 33-27 at intermission, St. Jospeh-Ogden quickly took control with Trimble leading the way.

After a Kohrmann 3-pointer push the Central lead to 36-29, the Spartans went on a 14-2 sprint with Trimble netting 12 of the points.

In the quarter he hit a pair of 3-pointers and six consecutive free throws, changing a seven point deficit into a 46-40 lead at the end of the third quarter.

“Their quickness surprised me. Our defense was good all year but he (Trimble) got to the basket on us and we didn't do a good job defensively in the first half. I thought we did a better job in the second half. But we didn't control the boards, especially early. He (Trimble) was in grove,” said Coach Shubert.

Kohrmann picked up his fourth foul on a charge late in the third quarter and had to sit for a few minutes.

Breese Central got to within 50-46 after a Kohrmann score with 4:59 remaining but Trimble nailed another big 3-point shot to extend the lead.

The Spartans closed out the semifinal win by hitting 7-of-8 from the foul line.

St. Joseph-Ogden was just 16-of-38 overall from the floor, but Trimble was 14-of-23 himself and the rest of the crew was 24-of-30 from the foul line.

The Spartans out-rebounded Breese Central, 34-22 with 13-offensive rebounds.

This led to 19 second chance points.

The numbers didn't lie as St. Joseph-Ogden won all the important stats.

St. Joseph-Ogden will play Taylor Ridge Rockridge in the title game.

Rockridge upset Hales Franciscan, 45-43 on a last second halfcourt shot by Carson Frakes.

“I thought we had a good first half shooting the basketball, then come out and score a total of 15-points and shooting 27-percent. That has to be better to try to get into that championship game,” said Coach Shubert.