Coach Dave Benter says his Brownstown Central basketball team is definitely going to have to bring its A Game when it battles Park Tudor at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Class 2A Southport Semi-State.

“They are very quick and physical,” he said. “They are going to have relentless pressure for 32 minutes. They are great in transition, a great rebounding team. Those are all things that we are going to have to control and be conscientious of,” he said.

“We’ve got to get back on defense, we’ve got to rebound. We can’t turn the ball over.”

The Braves had only six turnovers in the 67-41 win over Sullivan in the Washington Regional. The Braves are 25-4 and have won 16 straight.

Park Tudor is 20-5 and has won 11 of its last 12. The Panthers whipped Irvington Prep 83-44 in the Lebanon Regional.

“We just can’t have live-ball turnovers and take bad shots or they’ll convert at the other end,” Benter said. “They have waves of guys, different guys that they can send at you. “They’ve got depth. They’ve got good guard play. They’ve also got size and athleticism inside, and can score and rebound.”

The Braves are averaging 69.9 points per game and the Panthers are averaging 67.2.

Benter said he wants to see his team control tempo, and run when it has the opportunity.

“We’ve been a good transition team all year, so we definitely have to pick and choose, and we definitely don’t want to turn this into a half-court, grind-it-out game for 32 minutes.”

“We also have to be conscientious that we can’t come down and waste possessions and risk turnovers or take bad shots.”

Junior guard Hudson Horvath leads the Panthers in scoring at 19.5 points per game.

“He can score in a lot of ways,” Benter said. “He’s a really good shooter, he’s a good cutter. It’s going to be a challenge for us to keep him under control.

“He’s a really good scorer and plays at a quick pace. The rest of their guys are balanced and can score in different ways. They’ve got a lot of guys that can beat you off the dribble, they’ve got guys that can score inside, and guys that can really offensive rebound.

“We can’t just worry about him. Their post players are 6-5 and strong and athletic.”

Jack Benter led the Braves in scoring against Sullivan with 25 points to raise his career total to 2,424 points to rank 13th all time for Indiana boys.

He has scored 616 points this season for an average of 25.7 per game.

Parker Hehman is next at 11.9 points per game.

Coby Hall, who suffered an ankle injury against Henryville in the sectional and hasn’t played since, is still hampered by the injury and Coach Benter said it will be a game time decision whether or not he will be able to play.

Benter leads the Braves in 3-pointers with 88, Hehman has made 84 and Chace Coomer has made 68.

“We’ve got to play smart. As aggressive as they play we have to make sure we’re not bailing them out and fouling them,” Coach Benter said. “We’re looking forward to it. We played at Southport last year. We played the first game in the semi-state last year.”

He said he doesn’t feel like the early start will affect his team as most of them have played morning games in travel ball.

Forest Park will play Parke Heritage in the second game at 12:15 p.m., and the winners will play at 8 a.m. for a chance to advance to the state championship game on March 30.