The East basketball has seen its fair share of memorable performances. Senior Davonte Brunson turned in one his own in the Dragons’ 76-70 win over visiting Buchtel on Friday night.
Early in the fourth quarter with East trailing 64-56, Brunson fell to the floor with a cramp in his right leg and had to leave the game.
He jumped up off the bench and re-entered just a few seconds later, ran down the court a few times and dropped to the ground again, this time clutching his left leg.
Brunson stayed down for a few minutes and needed a great deal of help to get off the court so play could resume.
“I guess I just didn’t drink enough Gatorade before the game,” Brunson said. “Both my legs were cramped up. It was horrible.”
East’s go-to scorer, Brunson again jumped up and returned to the game 30 seconds later as East began to erase Buchtel’s lead, which to that point had lasted since the first basket.
With three minutes remaining and East behind 64-63, Brunson caught the ball along the wing and drove to the basket. On two bad legs, he missed twice, grabbed two offensive rebounds and then finally got a third shot to drop to give East its first lead of the night.
“It was hurting real bad but I just had to play through it because [Buchtel is] a good team and it was a real good game,” Brunson said. “I just had to fight through it.”
Coach Ross Fiorello knew getting Brunson back into the game was a must.
East’s assistant coaches called Brunson over to the bench every chance they got to ice down his leg in the hope it wouldn’t flare up again.
“We kept icing it … every timeout, every dead ball, every free throw our assistants were putting ice on it,” Fiorello said. “He’s a big-time player. That’s just Brunson.
‘‘When he gets to the fourth quarter, he makes the plays that he needs to make.”
Senior guard Mycle Shadie struggled from the floor the first three quarters, but Brunson kept East alive with several key drives and a few 3-pointers. He scored a game-high 27 points, including three free throws down the stretch to ice the game.
Shadie missed the first seven shots he took, and Buchtel built a double-digit lead in the first half.
Late in the second quarter, Shadie nailed a 3-pointer from the top of the key. He then back-pedaled down the floor with a more-than-relieved expression.
“I was really relieved because I wasn’t playing good at all early on,” Shadie said. “I just wasn’t playing good for most of the game, period.”
Shadie struggled to score 10 points through three quarters, but scored 12 in the fourth.
Buchtel coach Stephen White knew that Shadie wouldn’t stay down for long.
“We played him tough and then in the fourth quarter he became like a senior,” White said. “He did what seniors are supposed to do.”
Buchtel opened the door for such a comeback by committing 27 turnovers.
“We’re just young and had too many turnovers,” White said. “You can’t do that and expect to win.”
Tyler Jones led Buchtel with 18 points.
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