CRANE — Clever’s Brayden Verch admittedly had a hand in aiding an improbable Crane comeback Wednesday that was actually beginning to seem probable.
He also played a big part in stopping the Pirates’ comeback bid.
Verch kept his composure to help Clever keep the lead and net a 46-41 triumph against the host Pirates in second-round action at the Crane Tournament.
With Crane having cut a 17-point deficit to two and :24 remaining, the Pirates’ full-court press trapped Verch with the ball in a corner. Not deterred, the 5-foot-8 Verch escaped the pressure by passing the ball over the taller defenders and into the hands of teammate Lucas Peebles..
“I had just turned the ball over (the possession) before,” Verch said. "But I knew I had to lock in and finish the game.”
Peebles received Verch’s game-saving pass and promptly was fouled. He all but put a stop to Crane’s rally by hitting both of his free throws with :18 left to make it a two-possession ball game.
“(Verch) got trapped and there were three dudes on him,” Peebles said. “I was thinking, ‘Just get it to me and I'll get to the free-throw line.’ I knew I was going to knock them down and we were going to get out of here with the win.”
“I was trying to find Lucas,”Verch said, “I wanted to get (the ball) to him and have him make a play or get fouled.”
The late dramatics were necessary, even after Clever opened the game by jumping on top 20-3. During the first quarter, the Jays were 7-of-11 shooting from the field, including 6-of-9 accuracy on their 3-point attempts.
“We knew after getting out to that big lead, it was going to be hard for us to maintain that,” Clever coach Sean Price said. “We weren't going to shoot that well the rest of the game. I told the guys, 'The pressure is on us because we have the lead. (Crane) can come out and play free and fast and hard and take chances.’
“We were lucky our run in the first quarter was bigger than their run over the last three quarters,” he added. “The second half, they dominated the game.”
Clever followed up its hot-shooting first quarter by turning the ball over seven times and missing its first seven shots over the first seven-plus minutes of the second quarter. The Jays’ first and only field goal of the second quarter came on a three-point play during a putback by Peebles with :09 remaining in the first half.
In the third quarter, Clever didn’t score during the first four minutes while turning the ball over five times.
Clever was 9-of-22 shooting and committed 18 turnovers over the final three quarters.
“Crane is very athletic and their guards are long,” Price said. “Our guards aren't real long or tall. So, anytime we got in a trap situation it was hard for our guards to see out of it. Verch does a good job of attacking through (pressure), but if he ever gets trapped up, it's tough for him to get it out. We have to continue to work on moving to the ball, showing ourselves and not standing and watching.”
“They pressured us and we got sped up,” Peebles said. “We needed to slow it down and play ‘us.’ We had all the momentum early. Then, they had all the momentum. I was thinking, 'Dang, we've got to focus.’”
Over the final two minutes of the third quarter, Verch hit back-to-back buckets to give Clever scores on two consecutive possessions for the first time since the first quarter.
The Jays upped their lead to 15, 39-24.
Crane capped a 17-4 run by swishing a pair of 3s within a few seconds of each other to come all the back to within two, 43-41.
“We knew we were going to have to handle their pressure,” Verch said. “We knew they were going to try to trap everything. We had to take great shots and handle their pressure. But we struggled with it.”
Peebles and Verch combined for 33 points to ultimately deny Crane’s valiant comeback bid.
Clever’s struggles didn’t dampen the Jays’ enthusiasm. They had a celebratory locker room afterward. After all, this was Clever’s first win against Crane since 2018. The Jays (6-10) had lost five straight to the Pirates (3-13).
“It's good to beat Crane,” Peebles said. “We hadn't beat Crane in a long time.”
“At this point we celebrate any win,” Price said. “We’ll take it. But we know there are a lot of things we need to go back and fix. The kids understand that. It's always good to have those problems, but end up winning the game.”
