Grace Community’s Daniel Shankle was honored for scoring his 1,000th career point. (Brandon Ogden/Tyler Morning Telegraph)

It was a Brook Hill sweep of Grace Community in a TAPPS District 2-5A rivalry doubleheader on Friday night at Grace Community School.

In the opener, Brook Hill’s girls took a 66-41 win over the Lady Cougars for the Guard’s first win in the series since 2019. In the nightcap, Brook Hill’s boys defeated the Cougars 46-42 in two overtimes for the Guard’s 14th consecutive victory in the series.

BOYS

Brook Hill star guard Beck Langemeier missed the previous four games with an injury and went through pre-game warmups on Friday night.

But he was not in the starting lineup and didn’t get on the court in the first half.

“Coach told me I wasn’t going to play,” Langemeier said. “He said, ‘your ankle, we want to rest you for later on,’ and I said, ‘it felt good,’ and he said, ‘OK, hop in there,” and I was able to play.”

Langemeier entered the game with 5:59 left in the third quarter and Brook Hill trailing 21-16. Caden Swaim immediately hit a 3-pointe to extend the Grace lead to 24-16. But Langemeier came back with a 3-pointer and then used a reverse layup to set up a 3-point play to cut the score to 24-22. A Majus Afanasjev triple put the Guard ahead 25-24. Doak Porter made two free throws to put the Cougars back in front, and Grace led 28-27 after the third quarter.

Grace held Brook Hill for nearly four minutes in the fourth quarter and extend the lead to 31-27. Jio Orrico turned a steal into a layup before Langemeier connected on a three to put Brook Hill up 32-31 with 3:10 on the clock. Two McCade Stinson free throws gave Grace a 33-32 lead before a Langemeier free throw tied the score at 33.

Roy Rudzinskas scored with 1:16 left to give Brook Hill the lead before Jack Crawford tied the score at 36 with 1:00 to play. Langemeier’s attempt at the win at the buzzer was no good, sending the game into overtime.

Swaim made a three to open overtime and Grace eventually led 39-35 and then 40-34 with less than 40 seconds left.

Afansjev hit a jumper with 39 seconds on the clock for the Guard. A Swaim free throw put the score at 41-39 before Orrico’s layup with three seconds tied the score at 41 and forced a second overtime.

Orrico hit a layup in the first 20 seconds of the second overtime and then there was no scoring for more than three minutes until Langemeier made two free throws with 39 seconds on the clock to push the score to 45-41. Crawford made one free throw for the Cougars, and after Brook Hill missed two free throws, Grace’s Brady Luce attempted the tying three, and it was no good. Luke McNeel made a free throw with three seconds remaining to seal the victory for the Guard.

“It was awesome,” Brook Hill head boys basketball coach Jacob Agnew said. “We had two words for the game, poise and fight. I thought we played really poised. In the first half, we just couldn’t buy a bucket. But that happens sometimes. But we continued to fight, fight and fight. I think you have to fight to take it to two overtimes like that. And then we knocked down some big shots.”

“It was absolutely amazing,” Langemeier said. “Rivalry games are just a different level. “I haven’t gotten to play against Grace in high school. It was just a beautiful environment, and it was nice to be able to step in and help the team out.

Langemeier finished with a game-high 15 points and also grabbed four rebounds.

“I’ve noticed I’ve gotten softer in my old age,” Agnew said. “He gave me those puppy dog eyes, and I was like well I’ll give him a shot. He made the first one, so I had to keep him in there. He fought hard. He wanted to play, and I wanted him to play. I hope he’s good tomorrow.”

Brook Hill jumped out to a 10-3 lead before Grace rallied to cut the score to 14-13 at the end of the first quarter after a Swaim three at the buzzer. The Cougars went on an 18-6 spurt overall to lead 21-16 at halftime.

Orrico had 14 points for Brook Hill. Afanasjev had 7 points, eight rebounds and five assists for Brook Hill. Rudzinskas and McNeel each scored 4 points, and Rudzinskas had seven rebounds. Zac Ryle added 2 points.

Swaim led Grace with 15 points. Doak Porter scored 7 points. Crawford and Peyton Kelly each had 7 points, and Crawford had eight rebounds. Other scorers were Stinson 4; Daniel Shankle 3; and Dayne Edens 2.

Before the game, Shankle was honored for scoring his 1,000th career point on Tuesday.

GIRLS

Remy Tonroy and Indeya Williams combined for 49 points as Brook Hill rolled to a 66-41 win over rival Grace.

“It’s my first time for us to win against them as a head coach period, whether it’s at home or it’s here,” said Brood Hill head girls basketball coach Jereme Hubbard, who is in his fifth year leading the Guard. “It’s a tough environment. As an assistant, we beat them here in 2019, that’s the only other time we beat them.”

With the score tied at 4 early, Brook Hill went on a 10-0 run with Tonroy hitting three 3-pointers and scoring 11 points in the run. The Guard led 18-10 after the first quarter.

Brook Hill led 25-15 before an 8-3 spurts cut the score to 28-23 in the final seconds of the half. Savannah Onley was fouled with less than a second on the clock and made both free throws to send the Guard into halftime with a 30-23 lead.

A 24-10 third quarter in favor of the Guard stretched the lead to 54-33.

“For us, it was just about managing the environment, knowing we were the better team, knowing that we had the ability to do what we did and just find a way to do it,” Hubbard said. “We had a hot start, but then we had to kind of regroup at the half and find a way to get it done.”

Tonroy finished with 28 points, five rebounds, four assists and eight steals. Williams, who this week was announced as the Greater Texas Ford Dealers Female Athlete of the Month for private schools for the month of December, finished with 21 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, two blocks and six steals.

Other scorers for the Guard were Onley 6; Zuzanna Majchrzak 6; Mylee Booth 2; Karmen Miller 2; and Landrie Fite 1.

Paige Gilmore led Grace with 20 points, six rebounds and five steals. Other scorers for the Lady Cougars were Hannah Stout 6; Kat Neal 5; Macy Loftis 5; Lucy Loftis 3; and Macie Mathis 2. Neal also had 11 rebounds.