Fierce Response
Brooks helps power IUP past Kutztown, 66-64
His teammates call him a beast and a monster and a dawg.
Kymani Merraro is the exception.
To IUP’s freshman point guard, Damir Brooks is much more than a dawg.
“Damir Brooks, he’s not even a dawg, he’s a bear,” Merraro said. “He’s a bear; I’m not even calling him a dawg. There’s a lot of dawgs but there’s not a lot of bears.”
IUP needed something more than the biggest dog in the fight against Kutztown’s Golden Bears at the KCAC on Tuesday evening. Brooks, a 6-foot-6 redshirt junior forward, provided a fierce response with 18 points, 11 rebounds and seven blocked shots in a 66-64 victory in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference basketball game.
“Damir was fabulous — seven blocks, 11 rebounds, 18 points — and he kept us in the game, especially on the defensive end,” coach Joe Lombardi said after his team snapped a three-game losing streak and improved to 6-5.
“I think I had a good game,” a smiling Brooks said while sitting at his locker. “I didn’t know I had seven blocks until after the game. A triple-double with blocks would be crazy.”
Brooks came through on a night when Kutztown hounded IUP guards Christian Moore and Merraro. Moore scored 11 points, eight below his-team-leading average, and was limited to eight shots. Merraro scored 14 points but the playmaker did not have an assist.
The difference came inside. Brooks was 6-for-8 from the field and 6-for-10 from the free throw line, and his defense included several altered shots in addition to the blocks.
“He’s a monster,” Moore, a junior transfer from New Hampshire, said. “I remember the first time I saw him when I got here in August and I was just amazed by his athleticism and how talented and gritty he is. What he did today doesn’t surprise me because I see it every day in practice. He’s one of the main people that brings it every day in practice and the one that’s just ready to go at any point.”
Typically, Brooks helps fuel the offense with dunks and some post-ups in the low post off set plays in addition to conversions of offensive rebounds. He has never scored a field goal from more than 10 feet from the basket and might not have any attempts beyond that distance. This season, though, he has shown expanded post moves along with the ability to make his way to the basket from 15 feet.
Those skills came in handy in a game that featured mostly one-on-one matchups with only seven combined assists on 44 combined field goals. The biggest run for either team was 7-0, and there were 10 lead changes and 10 ties.
“At the end of the day it comes down to that sometimes,” Brooks said. “On the defensive end we could have done a better job one-on-one, but on our end we did a better job one-on-one and getting what we could out of it.”
Brooks is a starter for the first time in his career. After sitting out his first year, he came off the bench as a redshirt freshman. Last year, his playing time was more sporadic as a backup to Ethan Porterfield, one of the top players in Division II.
With Porterfield gone and playing professionally overseas, Brooks has delivered, averaging 11.6 points and 8.5 rebounds with five double-doubles and a team-leading .602 shooting percentage.
“He’s evolving,” Lombardi said. “He’s coming into his own.”
Brooks didn’t start Tuesday night for the first time this season. It was part of the game plan to protect him from early foul trouble against Kutztown’s Tyler Koenig, a 6-9 center.
“They have a bigger kid that really gets physical in the lane,” Lombardi said. “I didn’t want Damir to pick up a foul in the first couple minutes. … When Damir goes out with foul trouble we’re a different team, and we need to keep him in there.”
As it turned out, Koenig didn’t play. Either way, it didn’t matter to Brooks, who stayed out of foul trouble and played 36½ minutes, five more than his season average.
“It didn’t affect me,” he said. “It was just come out with the same game plan and do what I do.”
IUP returned the favor defensively on Kutztown’s leading scorer, Jalen Bryant, a senior guard who came in averaging 21.5 points and scored 11 on 2-for-14 shooting. Jayden McGhee, a 6-5 sophomore, and Josh McKoy, a 6-6 freshman, combined for 30 points and led five Kutztown players in double figures.
“They had a couple guys with good nights,” Lombardi said, “but we did a good job taking out their leading scorer.”
IUP trailed 9-5 early before outscoring Kutztown 23-12 for the game’s largest lead at seven points, 28-21, late in the first half. The Hawks led by four points, 32-28, at halftime.
Kutztown, 3-7 after three straight losses, made it a back-and-forth second half and held a four-point edge at 53-49 with 8:10 to go. IUP forged two ties but didn’t get the lead until the last half-minute.
IUP’s Tyler Grove, a 6-7 freshman marred in a shooting slump, teamed with Brooks in keeping their team close in the second half. Grove hit two 3-pointers in succession midway through the second half and made two free throws with 6:39 to go.
Moore’s drive for a three-point play and Sarp Furton’s two free throws accounted for the ties, but Kutztown regained the edge each time and held a three-point lead, 64-61, with 2:18 to go.
The Golden Bears didn’t score again. IUP followed two missed Kutztown shots with drives from Merraro and Moore that led to fouls and two free throws from each for a 65-64 lead with 36 seconds to go.
Kutztown committed a turnover on the next possession and IUP answered with a free throw from Moore, his miss on the second shot leaving the margin at two points with 17 seconds to go.
On the final possession, Kutztown’s Kameron Roberts missed a 3 from the right corner, and McGhee grabbed the rebound, dribbled out to the 3-point line rather than toward the basket for a potential game-tying and higher-percentage 2 and took a shot from the left wing that came up short and fell into Brooks’ grasp.
IUP shot 45.8 percent (22-for-48) with four 3-pointers. Kutztown shot 37.9 percent (22-for-58) with three 3s. IUP went 18-for-25 at the free throw line, including an 8-for-10 finish, and Kutztown was 17-for-23.
Kutztown led the rebounding, 35-33, including 18-11 in the second half with eight offensive boards to IUP’s one. Each team committed 13 turnovers.
“We’re not a great rebounding team,” Lombardi said. “We’re not overly strong and not overly athletic. But Damir is an above-average rebounder.”
IUP’s eight-man rotation includes six players new to the program, and three are freshmen. Brooks averaged 10.2 and 13.2 minutes, respectively, over his first two seasons after his redshirt year. Now he’s one of the few elder statesmen in a rebuilding program that set a high standard in the PSAC and the Atlantic Region with seven conference titles and three Elite Eight appearances in 19 seasons under Lombardi.
“Damir grew up and got bigger and got stronger and grew mentally,” Lombardi said, “so he’s an example of growth from three years ago when he redshirted, and I believe these guys are going to grow, too, but I don’t know at what pace they’re going to do it. They have grown, and I think they’ll continue to grow.”
IUP plays at Millersville on Saturday at 3 p.m., its final game before a Division II-mandated seven-day break from organized basketball activities.
Millersville lost at Clarion, 80-71, on Tuesday and dropped to 6-5. Clarion is 8-3.
TUESDAY’S BOX SCORE
IUP 66, KUTZTOWN 64
Kutztown (3-7)
Abessolo 4-8 2-3 10, Bryant 2-14 5-6 11, Roberts 0-5 0-0 0, McGhee 7-12 2-4 17, McKoy 5-7 3-4 13, Ricketts 0-4 0-0 0, Cunningham 4-6 3-4 11, Pagan 0-1 0-0 0, Satterfield 0-1 2-2 2, Bell 0-0 0-0 0, Totals 22-58 (.379) 17-23 (.739) 64
IUP (6-5)
Triggs 2-6 0-0 4, Grove 3-7 2-2 11, Merraro 5-9 3-4 14, Moore 3-8 5-7 11, Furtun 0-3 2-2 2, Brooks 6-8 6-10 18, Pickens 0-2 0-0 0, Herring 3-5 0-0 6, Totals 22-48 (.458) 18-25 (.720) 66
Halftime — IUP 32-28. 3-point field goals — Kutztown 3-14 (Bryant 2-4, Roberts 0-3, McGhee 1-4, Ricketts 0-2, Satterfield 0-1), IUP 4-16 (Grove 3-7, Merraro 1-4, Moore 0-2, Furtun 0-1, Pickens 0-1). Rebounds — Kutztown 35 (McGhee 9), IUP 33 (Brooks 11). Assists — Kutztown 2 (Bryant, Rickets 1), IUP 5 (Moore 2). Turnovers — Kutztown 13, IUP 13. Total fouls — Kutztown 20, IUP 20. Fouled out — Abessolo.
TUESDAY’S OTHER PSAC SCORES
Slippery Rock 105, Mansfield 62
West Chester 71, Pitt-Johnstown 57
Bloomsburg 86, California 84
Lock Haven 71, Edinboro 69
Gannon 92, Shepherd 72
Note: Seton Hill plays at East Stroudsburg on Wednesday
Glad you are back Tony!