HANOVER— Not that Brownstown Central’s boys basketball team needed any, but Wednesday’s opening round of the Class 2A Southwestern Sectional offered a few reminders that the tournament road ahead will be wild and unpredictable.

Powered by Jack Benter’s 27 points, BC ably handled its business in an 83-41 trouncing of Henryville. However, the Braves’ next opponent, the host Southwestern Rebels, provided the night’s first cautionary jolt by struggling into the fourth quarter to put away a seemingly overmatched Clarksville squad.

The Rebels, winners of 21 games this season (including a 20-point win over Clarksville in December), trailed as late as six minutes into the final period before the Generals (10-13) finally faltered.

Brownstown (22-4) and Southwestern (21-3) will meet in Friday’s second semifinal. Providence (17-3) takes on Austin (7-16) in the night’s first contest.

Brownstown never allowed Henryville to gain inspiration from Clarksville’s upset bid. The Braves, behind the hot-handed Benter, came out firing and jumped to an early 11-2 lead.

Instead, BC received its own bad-luck smack just 90 seconds into the game when starting forward Colby Hall landed wrongly while defending a shot by the Hornets’ Aydan Head.

The 6-foot-6 Hall crumpled to the floor with an apparent right ankle injury. He left the game and never returned.

“It’s got to be evaluated tomorrow and Friday,” BC head coach Dave Benter said of Hall’s status. “We just don’t know anything yet. It’s frustrating for the team, it’s frustrating for Colby. We’ve had three of our main players now hurt throughout the year. It’s tough, but we’ve got to take a next-man-up mentality.”

The two other players who have worked through injuries this season, Jack Benter and Micah Sheffer, led Brownstown’s early charge on Wednesday night. The pair combined to score 16 of the Braves’ first 19 points and gave BC a commanding 13-point lead midway through the first quarter.

In addition to his team-high eight rebounds, Benter made nine of 15 shots from the floor, including 5-for-8 from 3-point range. His offensive effort bumped his career points total to 2,389 and moved him up one spot to No. 16 on the Indiana boys basketball career scoring list.

Sheffer finished with 10 points and seven rebounds. Point guard Parker Hehman had five assists and nine points, while Adam Stahl stepped in for Hall and scored eight points.

Sharpshooter Lane Pendleton came off the bench to knock down four 3-pointers and scored 14 points.

Pendleton, a sophomore, also had the night’s most dramatic assist. After a steal, Greg Hutcheson forwarded the ball down court to Pendleton, who lobbed a perfect pass to Benter for an alley-oop dunk.

That play came at the 1:40 mark of the third quarter and pushed Brownstown in front 65-31. Thirty seconds later, Benter followed with a 3-pointer to increase the lead to 37, starting the 35-point mercy-rule running clock.

A late 13-0 run allowed the Braves to build a 43-point advantage, it’s largest of the night.

“In the first half, I thought our other guys were a little bit timid and questioning in their shooting, and that’s not been us all year,” Dave Benter said. “At halftime, we talked about shooting the basketball with confidence. I thought in the second half, our ball movement improved and our guys played looser.”

With just a day to digest Wednesday’s events and, potentially, find a replacement for Hall’s 11 points and seven rebounds per game, Benter said his team will have to adapt to the vicissitudes of tournament time.

“You never know in a tournament,” Dave Benter said. “I mean, it’s one and done. When all of a sudden, one of your best players goes down early in the game, you can’t control things like that. But we always talk about controlling what we can control. The five guys that are on the floor have to go out and compete.”

Southwestern Sectional

Brownstown Central 83, Henryville 41

Henryville;12;15;6;8;—;41

Brownstown;24;21;23;15;—;83

Henryville (8-15): Aydan Head 8 2-4 18, Landon Dobbs 5 0-0 11, Brody White 2 0-0 6, Cody Cranmer 1 0-0 3, Gavin Cooper 1 0-0 3, Hayden Barbour 0 0-0 0, Levi Lehaceanu 0 0-0 0, Dustin O’Bannon 0 0-0 0, Tyler Cissell 0 0-0 0, Totals 17 2-4 41.

Brownstown Central (22-4): Jack Benter 9 4-4 27, Lane Pendleton 5 0-0 14, Micah Sheffer 4 1-1 10, Parker Hehman 4 0-0 9, Adam Stahl 3 2-3 8, Greg Hutcheson 3 0-2 6, Chace Coomer 1 0-0 3, Pierson Wheeler 1 0-0 3, Caiden Gwin 1 0-0 3, Colby Hall 0 0-0 0, Preston Garrison 0 0-0 0, Owen Wischmeier 0 0-0 0, Totals 31 7-10 83.

3-Point Goals: Henryville 5 (White 2, Dobbs, Cranmer, Cooper), Brownstown 14 (Benter 5, Pendleton 4, Hehman, Coomer, Sheffer, Wheeler, Gwin).

Rebounds: Henryville 25 (Head 9), Brownstown 35 (Benter 7, Sheffer 6, Coomer 5, Pendleton 5, Hutcheson 3, Stahl 2, Garrison 2, Wheeler 2, Hehman 1, Gwin 1, Team 1).

Turnovers: Henryville 13, Brownstown 3.