NORTHWEST SIDE — The Marion County Tournament kicked off on Tuesday night all over the city and TheJayGravesReport landed at Pike. Brebeuf Jesuit pulled up in a brand new Caddy with a rag top and some old school trues and vogues. The Red Devils jumped out of the Big Body Chevy ready to do work in the middle of the street on a boy. When the smoke cleared Pike was driving off with some new tires and a sound system as they beat Brebeuf 74-66 in a battle that kept boyz guessing all night.
The Red Devils jumped out to a quick 10-2 led after junior guard Jasen Graves knocked down two 3-pointers on his first two shot attempts. By the time we got to the 2:22 mark of the first quarter Graves had already made three field goals from behind the arc. The dun must have been unconscious when he walked into the building scoring 9 of his 14 points in the first quarter.
Brebeuf wasn’t giving up the tires that easily though. They scrapped back into it to pull within 5 making it 20-15 at the end of the first quarter. However, it was off to the races as Pike started attacking the rim being as aggressive as they knew how. Ahmoni Jones got going and it was problem. There was no answer for him getting whatever he wanted in the paint.
Pike went up 41-32 looking like they were about to blow the doors off of the Caddy but Brebeuf kept on fighting and by the time we got to the break it was 43-37 Red Devils.
The Red Devils’ A.J. White came out of the intermission fired up as he started going to the rack at will. Ole boy left some laundry on the court after shaking a few boyz up on several trips down the floor. However, the Braves never flinched as they continued to battle on the road. By the end of the third quarter Pike was up 56-49 with literally no answer to shake these guys loose.
Every time they went up 9 or 10 points Brebeuf would climb right back into it led by Simon Banks and Spencer Reist who both finished with 18 points each.
However, down the stretch the Red Devils defense began to force the Braves to many way too many easy buckets and before I could bite into my second hot dog the Trues and Vogues were being transferred unwillingly to the Big Body Chevy.
Ahmoni Jones led the Red Devils with 20 points as Graves dropped off his 14. A.J. White did enough work to finish with 12. Pike will meet Ben Davis on Wednesday at BD for the second round of the Marion County Tournament at 7pm.