BROWNSTOWN
Prior to Friday night’s game against Charlestown, Brownstown Central boys basketball coach Dave Benter emphasized to his team that he wanted a strong overall effort.
The Braves took Benter’s message to heart, as they built up a 12-0 lead at the 2:25-mark of the first period, held a 40-12 lead at the half and rolled to a 65-30 Mid-Southern Conference win.
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Benter said he found a lot of things he liked about this game.
“I thought the first half we played really well. I thought we came out really focused,” he said. “We did a really nice job attacking their zone.
“We got the ball to the high post, we drove really well against their zone. It seemed like we got every shot we wanted the first half and I didn’t think we forced anything. I thought we controlled the ball really good. It seemed like every shot we missed we had an offensive rebound. They had a real hard time keeping Seth (Borden) off the offensive glass.”
Borden started out hot as his second basket of the game put the Braves up 6-0 at the 4:20 mark, and Ethan Wischmeier’s 3-pointer made it 12-0 at 2:45.
After the Pirates made a free throw, Borden added another layup, Wischmeier hit another 3-pointer, and Isaac Johnson made two free throws in the closing seconds of the opening quarter for a 19-1 score.
The Pirates missed their first five shots from the floor and had three turnovers in falling behind 12-0.
The Braves shot 7-for-11 and the Pirates were 0-for-8 in the first period.
Borden and Johnson remained hot throughout the second period as Borden made two baskets and 4-of 4 free throws and had four rebounds, and Johnson scored 11 points in the period.
The Braves outrebounded the Pirates 17-1 in the first half and made 15 of 29 shots to 4 of 15 for the visitors.
Brownstown (6-0 MSC, 12-2) stayed hot at the start of the third period, as Johnson had four baskets and Borden two in the period to help their team increase its lead to 56-23.
Johnson topped the Braves with 23 points, and Borden scored 18 to go along with 12 rebounds.
Benter said he was happy to see a lot of players contribute to the win as nine players scored points and 11 players grabbed rebounds as the Braves held a 31-10 advantage in that department.
Benter said his team has played well the past three weeks.
“I talked to the guys this week at practice, I really feel in the last month we’ve made some strides, especially offensively,” he said. “We really struggled to score early in the season at times. Our spacing is better, we’re finding mismatches and we’re doing a nice job finding that.
“They’re worked really hard and I’m really happy for them.”
The Braves will host Corydon Central tonight for another MSC game.