The highly-anticipated matchup between two undefeated conference foes certainly delivered on Friday night between Brownstown Central and North Harrison.

Inside The Pit, in a game that featured a rollercoaster of emotions, the Braves were the ones who defended homecourt and walked away with a hard-fought 63-62 victory in double overtime.

North Harrison looked like the aggressor out of the jump. The Cougars took a 9-4 lead with three minutes to play in the first quarter, but after a timeout from head coach Dave Benter, the Braves quickly turned that around.

They went on a 9-2 run to close the first quarter and took a 13-11 lead after one.

Brownstown’s aggressiveness continued in the second quarter. The Braves got into the bonus very early into the second quarter, and as a result, Brownstown shot 17 free throws in the first half. The Braves didn’t capitalize as much as they wanted to in that regard, making just nine of those attempts.

Nonetheless, their defensive prowess and ability to get to loose balls extended their lead out to 25-17 at the break.

Jack Benter led the Braves in scoring at halftime with 11 points and seven those came at the charity stripe. Carter Waskom contributed another 10.

Waskom and Parker Hehman did a solid job chasing around North Harrison’s top scorer in Logan McIntire, who had eight points at the half but didn’t get many looks from his bread and butter outside on the perimeter.

The third quarter was a different story, though.

North Harrison only fouled one time, while Brownstown committed five fouls.

The Cougars held the Braves to just four points in the third period, and they clawed back within one point, 29-28, as Brownstown went to the fourth with the advantage.

Waskom hit a big three from the wing for the Braves to get back up 32-28 and give themselves a little bit of breathing room.

That was the first of many big 3-pointers to fall in the fourth quarter from both teams.

McIntire got fouled on a 3-point attempt that he made to put the Cougars in front for the first time since the first quarter. He converted the 4-point play to take a 34-32 lead.

The Cougars got up by five before Waskom and Benter hit back-to-back threes with 3:13 to play and retook the lead by one, 39-38.

But again, the Cougars were able to climb back in front and seemed like they were in control of the game, leading by three with under two minutes to play. They were trying to kill the clock, but Brownstown forced a turnover, and then Benter nailed a deep 3-pointer from the volleyball line to tie the game at 42 with 1:07 to play.

North Harrison held the ball for the final shot, but couldn’t get a good look and four minutes went back up on the clock as the game went to overtime.

The Cougars struck first in the extra period as Sawyer Wetzel made 1 of 2 free throws. But like he was doing all night in the second half, Benter hit another big shot. He dribbled into a jumper just inside the 3-point line to take a one-point lead.

Then Benter deflected a pass for a steal and laid it in on the other end to put the Braves up three points in OT.

It came down to executing the inbounds and free throws after that for the home team.

The Braves made 3 0f 5 free throws down the stretch, but it left an opening for North Harrison. Trailing by three, McIntire hit a contested 3-pointer that rolled around the rim as time expired and fell in as the game went to double overtime.

Benter continued his nuclear shooting night in the second overtime.

He had a couple of and-ones, and then while trailing by one point, hit a deep 3-pointer to give Brownstown the lead with under 30 seconds to play.

North Harrison had an answer, though. They found Gavin Bigham down low who laid it in while Benter fouled him. It was Benter’s fifth foul, so he exited the game with 19.8 seconds to play as Bigham hit the free throw to go up by one.

The madness continued.

With no Benter in the game, the Braves went to Waskom, who got fouled. He stepped to the line and made the first to tie the game at 62. But he missed the second, and North Harrison had the chance to win it.

McIntire was double-teamed by the Braves, and he lost the ball, then committed the foul on Levi Stahl, who was diving for the ball himself.

Stahl stepped to the line with 1.2 seconds to play, and he missed the first. Tension was high in The Pit, but Stahl calmly swished the second free throw to seal the deal as the Brownstown prevailed by one.

With the win, the Braves improved to 5-0 overall and 3-0 in the Mid-Southern Conference.

It’ll be a quick turnaround for the team as they will be back at home tonight to take on Mitchell.