Life is good for Brownstown Central’s boys basketball team as it heads into an opening-round matchup with Eastern (Pekin) tonight in the Class 2A Southwestern (Hanover) Sectional.

Of the 401 participating teams in the 113th annual boys state tournament, only 15 entered with a winning streak of 10 or more games. The Braves are one of those 15 after they extended their run to 10 straight wins with last week’s 25-point win over Class A No. 2 Orleans.

The computer rankings love Brownstown, as reflected in the Braves’ No. 1 rating by Sagarin among Class 2A teams. Their No. 6 ranking in the Class 2A AP poll shows that regular people like the Braves, too.

So what does head coach Dave Benter think of his team?

“As a coach, I’m never happy,” Benter said with a smile.

Such is a coach’s lot. Rankings and winning streaks are about the past. Coaches stress over the future, which for Benter means planning for a difficult sectional field.

“We’re in a really tough sectional,” Benter said. “I’ve been telling people that I think it’s the toughest (Class) 2A sectional in the state.”

The facts support Benter’s contention. The Southwestern Sectional is the only Class 2A bracket with three AP top 10 teams and two Sagarin top 50 teams.

The sectional’s collective winning percentage (.654) is also tops in Class 2A. Among its seven entrants, five have 16 or more wins. Southwestern boasts the most wins with 20, followed by Brownstown (19), Providence (18) and Eastern and Henryville (16 each).

Brownstown (19-4) defeated it first-round opponent, Eastern (Pekin), two weeks ago by 14 points. The Musketeers enter the tournament with a 16-6 record.

“They have two really solid guards, who are good shooters, and a 6-foot-11 guy inside, a scholarship kid who they can throw it up to any time,” Benter said.

Should the Braves get past the Musketeers, No. 8 Providence (18-4) figures to be the next step. The Pioneers, the defending Class 2A state champions, must first get through Clarksville (8-14).

“I think Providence is one of the best teams in the state, and not just in 2A, but one of the best teams overall,” Benter said. “They’ve proven that with how they’ve played when they’ve been healthy.”

The reward for advancing through the first two rounds is a likely finals matchup with sectional host Southwestern (Hanover), which sports a 20-3 record and a No. 10 ranking.

“It’s not going to be easy. We understand that,” Benter said. “It’s tournament time. It’s one game at a time.”

Judging by his team’s recent results, the Braves appear to be ready. Of their 10 consecutive wins, nine have come by double-digit margins. BC topped seven 3A or 4A teams during that stretch.

“We’re still not where we want to be defensively, but we’re getting better,” Benter said. “Compared to where we were six weeks ago, we’re in a much better place.”

A spate of injuries in January left BC shorthanded and resulted in three losses in a four-game stretch. Included among the absentees were leading scorer Jack Benter and point guard Parker Hehman.

“We were battling a lot of injuries,” Brownstown senior Jakob Arthur recounted. “At one point, we were missing three of our starters.”

Since the roster has been restored, the Braves haven’t looked back. They completed a perfect run to claim the Mid-Southern Conference crown and defeated big-school competitors such as Bedford North Lawrence, Floyd Central and New Albany.

“Now that we’re healthy, it makes us harder to guard,” Benter said. “Teams have to pick their poison a little bit in how they guard us.”

The Braves head into the tournament averaging 70 points offensively while allowing just 51 points defensively.

Jack Benter leads BC scorers, averaging 29.9 points. Hehman is averaging 10.4 points, followed by Chace Coomer (9.7) and Colby Hall (9.4).

Half of Brownstown’s points from the field are coming on 3-point shots. Averaging 10 3s per game as a team, three different Braves — Benter, Hehman and Coomer — have made at least 49 3-pointers this season.

Added up, Brownstown’s players feel they’re ready to begin a long postseason run.

“Right now, we’re on a pretty good streak going into the tournament,” Arthur said. “We’re focused. We feel like if we can take care of business, we can win (the sectional).”