Brooke’s Leyton Teopfer poured in 27 points along with five rebounds and four assists, while Nate Kimball scored 18 with eight rebounds and Nick Cipoletti scored 17.

For Bellaire, Mayson Sochor ended with 32 points and nine rebounds, while Mac Mac Pettigrew scored 17 points with six rebounds, six assists and three steals.

Bellaire led 23-20 after the first quarter, but Brooke took a 41-38 lead into halftime. The Bruins lead stretched out to as many as 10 points in the third, but Bellaire tightened things to a two-point deficit, 61-59 going into the fourth.

There were five lead chances in a back-and-forth final quarter, and with Brooke clinging to a slim lead in the final minute, Teopfer and Garrett Milam hit crucial free throws down the stretch to seal the game. The pair went 7-9 in the fourth quarter.

“Nerves were high, but when you’ve got a player returning like Leyton Toepfer, it’s like having an extra coach,” Brooke head coach Adam Shinsky said. “He’s special. He’s just a strong kid.”

Brooke went 13-17 in the game from the foul line, contrasted by a shaky 11-23 day from the Big Reds. In a four-point game, shooting 47.8% from the line stung Bellaire.

“I thought we played hard, but as I always tell people, you’re supposed to play hard,” Bellaire head coach J.R. Battista said. “You don’t get medals for effort, you’re supposed to do that. Something I’d like to improve on is our 11-23 showing from the foul line. You’re not going to beat many teams shooting 11-23 from the foul line, and a good team like Brooke that has a lot of guys Brooke, that has a lot of skill up top, they did a pretty good job with our pressure, you’ve got to make those shots.

“As the game wore on, Brooke made foul shots, made some 3’s, made plays to win the game. They deserved to win the game.”

Bellaire shot 1-4 with 0.7 seconds left in the third quarter in a personal foul-plus-technical foul combo.

3-pointers were also a factor in Tuesday’s decision, as Brooke knocked down eight 3-pointers in the first half alone, nine in the game. Cipoletti cashed in on three 3’s in the second quarter to throw momentum Brooke’s way and help lift the Bruins up over the Big Reds going into halftime.

“We shoot them alot, that’s my style,” Shinsky said. “I wasn’t ever a great defensive player in high school, I liked to shoot the 3, and that’s what I brought to the team when I took over up here. We shoot a lot of them, sometimes you live by them, sometimes you die by them, it worked out for us tonight.”

Bellaire knocked in seven 3-pointers, with four coming from the 6-foot-4 Sochor, who converted from all levels of the floor to lead the Big Reds.

Five of Sochor’s nine rebounds were of the offensive variety, with offensive rebounds and slick passes from Pettigrew helping Bellaire get easy shots and get back into the game after trailing by double-digits midway through the third.

“This gym, this program, that team, Bellaire is a great team,” Shinsky said. “You’re not going to find better athletes than Mason Sokler and Pettigrew. Coming in here on our first game and beating them in a close game like that, without one of our starters, Peyton Toepfer, banged up with a broken foot, we stole one tonight. It was a hard-fought, 50/50 game. A couple loose balls either way, if they’re all like this, it’s going to take a lot of years off my life, I mean that was a fight. Two very good teams.”

“They’re both three-year starters, been playing since they were sophomores,” Battista said of Sochor and Pettigrew. “They should be making these plays, they should be making more plays, and they will. I didn’t think we played great offensively and we still had a chance to win. Hopefully that’ll bode well down the stretch.”

Keegan Davis scored nine points with seven rebounds for Bellaire. Brooke freshman Grant Yost had four points and 10 rebounds.

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