Brownstown began its season Tuesday night, and the Braves raced out to a double-digit lead and easily cruised to a 72-40 victory over Salem.

Carter Waskom set the tone right from the start with his ability to attack the basket and finish through traffic.

Waskom ended the first half with a game-high 16 points.

“They were having a real hard time containing him early in the game,” head coach Dave Benter said. “He’s a difficult matchup. He’s real quick with the basketball. He’s able to get to the rim and finish.”

Brownstown really extended its lead at the end of the first quarter when Parker Hehman hit back-to-back 3-pointers, and the Braves led by 14 after the first eight minutes.

In the second quarter, Brownstown began to put more pressure on Salem bringing the ball up the court, and the Braves took full advantage of turning the Lions over and getting quick, easy baskets to get the crowd inside The Pit fired up.

“The big emphasis was our transition on offense and defense and our communication in both of those,” Benter said. “I thought we did a really nice job with our energy level and our communication.”

The Lions went to a 1-3-1 zone in the third quarter to try to throw Brownstown off a bit. Benter said his team rarely saw zone at all last season, so they don’t practice it much, but he thought his team adjusted well to it.

“I think our post guys have gotten better that we can play out of the high post when they’re in zone,” Benter said. “Jack (Benter) and Carter aren’t gonna be two for 14 a lot from three, so I think teams will have a hard time zoning us.”

Waskom and Benter both finished with a game-high 18 points despite not shooting great from the 3-point line. Benter hit two threes on the night.

Benter threw down a one-handed dunk with 6:50 left in the game that got the crowd up on its feet and roaring.

Other scorers for the Braves on Tuesday night were Hehman with 11, Aidan Schroer with 8, Carson Darlage 7, Jakob Arthur 3, Adam Stahl 3, Trapper Dean 2 and Levi Stahl 2.

Salem only had one top double digit scorer in the game, and it was Grant Mahuron with 11 points.

Prior to the Braves’ varsity team handling business, the junior varsity team did the same. They won the ball game 67-38 and were led by Adam Stahl, who had 23 points. Caiden Gwin and Hudson Fritz each had 16.

Brownstown (1-0) will be back in action this Friday when the Braves play at Seymour (2-0) at 7:30 p.m. with JV starting before that at 6 p.m.

“I think it’s Seymour’s best team they’ve probably had in 15 years,” Benter said. “They’re gonna defend us extremely well. It’s not gonna be a high possession game like it was tonight. We’ve gotta be more disciplined defensively than we were tonight. We gotta keep doing what we can do and moving the basketball, and we can’t get away from that.”