Eastern 78

**Stardust** · 01-11-2012, 02:46 AM

Final

**Stardust** · 01-11-2012, 02:57 AM

It’s been a roller-coaster season for the Eastern High School boys’ basketball team after losing all five starters from last year’s squad that reached the state semifinals.

But on Tuesday — playing without one of their best players — the Eagles showed why coach Jason Couch believes his team eventually can contend for another Seventh Region title.

Chris Hill and Tyrell Corlew each scored 21 points and Eastern put together a strong defensive showing to beat Butler 78-59 in a second-round game of the Republic Bank/Coca-Cola Louisville Invitational Tournament in Bellarmine University’s Knights Hall.

Eastern (9-8) — No. 19 in The Courier-Journal’s Litkenhous Ratings — had lost its previous two games but bounced back for a convincing victory over the No. 9 Bears (9-6).

“We’ve had a lot of close losses that could have been wins if we had made a few more plays down the stretch,” said Hill, who added four assists and four steals. “We knew it would come together sooner or later. It was only a matter of time.”

Eastern, the defending LIT champion, advanced to face the Trinity-Beth Haven winner in Friday’s 5 p.m. quarterfinal.

The Eagles will continue to play without senior Percy Blade, their top rebounder and No. 2 scorer. He missed his second game with what Couch called a hairline fracture of his first rib and likely will miss 2-3 more weeks.

But Eastern didn’t miss him Tuesday, hitting 6 of 13 three-point tries in the first half to build a 37-19 lead at the break. Butler defeated Eastern 73-64 on Dec. 16 in the King of the Bluegrass Holiday Classic but shot just 33.9 percent Tuesday.

“We’ve been scoring enough to win games, but we haven’t been getting stops,” Couch said. “It’s been too easy for people to score on us … but tonight we probably played with more intensity on defense than we have all year.”

Jalen Palm (17 points) led Butler, and Demetrius McReynolds added 14. McReynolds sat out the first half for disciplinary reasons, coach Shawn Purlee said.

Afterward, Purlee questioned the leadership of his team’s six seniors.

“Eastern’s kids outplayed us from the word ‘go,’ ” he said. “We didn’t defend at all. Our goal was to hold them to 55 points or less … and they were on pace to score 80 after the first quarter.”

Hill scored 10 points, nailing two 3-point tries, to help the Eagles lead 21-9 after one quarter. Jordan Brangers, who finished with 16 points, also hit a pair of first-half threes.

McReynolds started the second half for Butler but couldn’t help slow the Eagles, who led by 27 points in the fourth quarter.

It was a welcome sight for Couch, whose team dropped games at St. Xavier (77-52) and Clay County (73-58) last week.

“It’s been frustrating at times, but we feel like we can compete with anybody,” he said. “I think the biggest thing has been consistency.”

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