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Dragons rally to top Brookville for tourney crown

Warren point guard Griffin Suppa attacks the Brookville defense.

BROOKVILLE, Pa. – A second consecutive second-half comeback equaled a tournament title for the Warren Dragons on Saturday night.

Trailing 31-17 at halftime, the Dragons (2-0) outscored the Raiders 39-23 in the second half and earned a hard-fought 56-54 win.

“It was really a tale of two half’s,” said Warren coach Jeff Berdine. “In the first half, we didn’t get back on defense and gave up a lot of straight-line drives. We switched defenses in the second half and made them play faster.”

Trailing 31-14 late in the first half, Griffin Suppa drained a shot from beyond half court at the buzzer to make it 31-17 at the break.

“Brookville did a nice job on defense in the first half,” Berdine said.

Warren’s Caleb Ei (33) challenges a shot attempt by Brookville’s Aaron Park.

The momentum from Suppa’s long-range shot certainly carried over to the second half. The senior point guard played another outstanding game with 17 points and four assists.

“Griffin played a very good offensive game again,” Berdine noted.

Jake Kupchella, the Tournament MVP, and Mitchell Grosch also came up big in the final 16 minutes for the Dragons. Kupchella scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half and Grosch came off the bench to score 13 points, with 11 of his also coming in the second half.

“I give the kids a lot of credit for being able to go into halftime and make the adjustments,” Berdine said. “They also have to understand that they didn’t do what they needed to do in terms of starting well offensively.”

Aidan Morrison, Caleb Ei and Kupchellla all had four rebounds, with Kupchella also coming up big on defense with six steals. Suppa and Ei were also named to the All-Tournament team.

All-in-all, it was a great way to start the season for the Dragons.

“We knew with Brockway, they’ve been a state qualifier the last two years and Brookville has four starters back,” Berdine said. “Both games we dug ourselves a hole and were able to come back. I’m happy with the quality of the tournament and with how we played.”

Next up for the Dragons is a third-straight District 9 opponent to start the season, at St. Marys today, followed by the home-opener against Cathedral Prep on Wednesday.

– – –

WARREN (56)

Morrison 1-2-2-4, Kupchella 5-3-4-13, McMeans 0-1-2-1, Ei 4-0-1-8, Suppa 6-3-5-17, Grosch 6-0-0-13, Funari 0-0-0-0, Bablak 0-0-0-0, Rafalski 0-0-0-0, Totals 22-9-14-56

BROOKVILLE (54)

Miner 0-0-0-0, Dworek 7-2-417, Keth 3-1-2-9, Baughman 0-0-0-0, Cable 2-1-2-5, Gilhousen 2-0-1-4, Krug 2-1-1-5, Park 4-6-7-14, Totals 20-11-17-54

By Quarters

Warren 6 11 18 21 – 56

Brookville 17 14 9 14 – 54

Three-point FGs: Warren (3) – Suppa 2, Grosch; Brookville (3) – Keth 2, Dworek

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