BREWER – Something had to give.

With the Brewer High School Witches trying to handle 6-foot-7 Travis Gilmore and 6-foot-4 Joe McLaughlin in the paint and control the boards, somebody was bound to be open.

His name was Jim Ross and he made the Witches pay dearly for their oversight, nailing three consecutive 3-pointers during a 15-4 spurt to close out the first half that enabled the Cougars to thump the Witches 72-55 in a battle of early-season unbeatens.

“After I hit my first `3,’ I got into a zone,” said Ross, who finished with a game-high 21 points thanks to 5-for-8 shooting from beyond the 3-point arc. “Having the big guys underneath opens it up for me. I was wide open.”

“When he gets hot like that, we just try to keep getting him the ball,” said senior guard Jeremy Bryant, who contributed 19 points and eight assists to Mt. Blue’s third victory.

“When a guy gets hot like that, we’ve got to get somebody out on him. We didn’t do that,” said Brewer senior forward Adam King.

McLaughlin finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds, Peter Roberts contributed 10 points off the bench, and Gilmore pulled down 11 boards.

Robb Pawson’s 11 points and Adam Leeman’s 10 led 3-1 Brewer. Buddy Chambers grabbed six rebounds and Pawson hauled down five.

Mt. Blue was holding a 21-17 lead midway through the second quarter when McLaughlin hit a baseline runner to trigger the 15-4 spurt.

Ross hit 3’s from the right wing and the right corner, and, following a layup by Pat Griffin, he nailed another from the right corner off a Bryant feed. Bryant had fed him for the second 3-pointer, also, after Dustin Ireland had passed to him for the first one.

Ross then did the job on the defensive end, blocking a Pawson shot, and he wound up feeding Roberts for a 6-foot turnaround jumper to build the lead to 34-19.

Brewer’s King and Mt. Blue’s Ireland swapped baskets to close out the half.

Roberts had a pair of baskets and an assist during a 12-3 flurry that concluded the third period to give Mt. Blue a comfortable 52-30 edge.

The Witches shot only 4-for-17 from the floor in the third period.

Brewer made a couple of runs in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t get any closer than 16.

“We looked at this as a big test for us. I’d say we passed it,” said Bryant.

The bottom line was Mt. Blue dominated every aspect of the game.

Their full-court pressure in the first half forced Brewer’s guards to work hard to get the ball up the court and it took its toll. When they weren’t pressing, the Cougars were still primarily playing in-your-shirt, man-to-man defense that forced Brewer to rush its shots and turn the ball over.

Offensively, Mt. Blue was patient against Brewer’s 2-3 zone and worked the ball to get good shots. The Cougars’ athleticism was also a problem for the Witches as Mt. Blue, paced by guards Bryant and Ireland, was able to hurt the Witches with their transition game.

“They wanted to win more than we did. They played as a team. They deserved to win,” said King.

“We didn’t play with any intensity,” said Brewer coach Mark Savage.

Cougars 72, Witches 55

Mt. Blue (3-0) Brewer (3-1)

Name G AG F AF TP Name G AG F AF TP

Ross 5 8 6 8 21 King 4 13 1 2 9

Ireland 2 7 0 0 4 Corson 0 1 0 0 0

Bryant 7 13 3 7 19 Pawson 5 11 1 3 11

Gilmore 1 3 4 6 6 Hinckley 4 11 0 1 8

McLaughlin 4 8 2 2 10 Chambers 2 8 4 7 8

Roberts 5 8 0 1 10 Johnson 0 0 1 2 1

Uzunovic 1 1 0 0 2 Griffin 2 2 2 2 6

Sawyer 0 0 0 0 0 Leeman 4 4 0 0 10

Eagers 0 1 0 0 0 Hughes 1 10 0 4 2

Miskin 0 2 0 0 0 Sieber 0 0 0 0 0

Kamholtz 0 0 0 0 0

Duffy 0 0 0 0 0

Franson 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 25 51 15 24 72 Totals 22 60 9 21 55

Mt. Blue 19 36 52 72

Brewer 10 21 30 55

3-pt. goals: Mt. Blue 7-14: Ross 5-8, Bryant 2-3, Ireland 0-1, Eagers 0-1, Miskin 0-1; Brewer 2-13: Leeman 2-2, King 0-5, Hughes 0-3, Corson 0-1, Pawson 0-1, Hinckley 0-1

Preliminary: Mt. Blue JVs (3-0) 60, Brewer (0-4) 44