ELLETTSVILLE

The 3-point shot was working for the Brownstown Central boys basketball team during its sectional opener Tuesday night.

Battling South Vermillion, the Braves were able to work outside-in thanks to the long ball and downed the Wildcats 63-41 to extend their season another game.

Made 3-pointers by the Braves ended both the first and second quarters and gave them sizable advantages early. Those shots forced the Wildcats to get out of their zone defense and into a man-to-man look to try and run the Braves off the 3-point line.

In turn, that allowed the Braves to start working the ball inside with Aidan Schroer or via drives into the lane from Derek Thompson, Isaiah Wingeinger and company.

BC shot 9-for-14 from the 3-point line in the game and was 61% from the field. It’s the best complete game the Braves have had all season, coach Dave Benter said.

“This is the best we’ve played for a 32-minute stretch,” he said. “We made shots, we had a few too many turnovers in the first half, but we thought we had the advantage on the backboards, and we just had to get back in transition. I thought our guys played really well tonight.”

Brownstown Central turned the ball over eight times in the first half but coughed it up just three times in the final 16 minutes. Cutting down on the cross-court passes helped whittle that number down, but simply taking better care of the basketball was also crucial for the Braves.

“When we didn’t turn it over, we were getting great shots and scoring,” Benter said. “We just had a couple of really lazy passes, and we telegraphed some passes. Once we started using our ball fakes … it opened things up a little bit, and our guys just started making better decisions.”

Though the Braves already led by 13 points at the half, they poured it on in the second half to erase any sort of comeback by the Wildcats.

South Vermillion started the second half as the aggressors, but the Braves quickly snuffed them out to cruise to victory. The Braves led by as many as 26 points before both teams cleared their benches, allowing their reserves to close out the game.

Four Braves scored in double figures Tuesday night with Schroer’s 14 points leading the charge. Both Wineinger and Clay Chastain chipped in 12, while Thompson added 10. Carter Waskom had six, Lucas Hines netted four, Kiernan Tiemeyer scored three and Carson Darlage had two to round out the BC scoring.

The Braves will take on Brown County in the first sectional semifinal Friday night at 6 p.m.