The Braves hold their first state finals trophy in program history on Saturday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The first state title for Brownstown since 2019, when Volleyball grabbed their last title.
Jeff Lubker | For The Tribune
Braves’ Parker Hehman, Colby Hall and Micah Sheffer all playing for Brownstown in the state final game against Wapahani.
Jeff Lubker | For The Tribune
Brownstown’s Colby Hall goes up with the close shot against Wapahani in the Class 2A State Final.
Jeff Lubker | For The Tribune
Brownstown’s Jack Benter drives to the basket against Logan Wulff of Wapahani. Benter finished the game with 25 points, 5 rebounds, and four assists in the win.
Jeff Lubker | For The Tribune
Brownstown’s Parker Hehman looks to make a play against the Raiders on Saturday in the state title game.
Jeff Lubker | For The Tribune
Brownstown’s Chace Coomer lets the triple fly from the arc in the Class 2A State Final against the Wapahani Raiders.
Jeff Lubker | For The Tribune
Jack Benter drives with his left hand in the Class 2A State Final. Benter wrapped up his career 11th on the state’s all-time boys basketball scoring list with 2,549 career points.
Jeff Lubker | For The Tribune
INDIANAPOLIS— The Brownstown Central boys’ basketball team had a joyous bus ride home from Gainbridge Fieldhouse Saturday afternoon. That bus ride came after the Braves defeated Wapahani 55-36 to win the boys class 2A state championship.
“I thought our energy in the first half was outstanding,” Braves Coach Dave Benter said. The only time the Braves trailed was for 12 seconds, by a 3-2 score, early in the game.
The Braves built up an 18-10 lead by the end of the first period in winning the first boys’ varsity basketball championship ever in Jackson County.
Benter said his team takes a lot of pride in its’ defense.
“We’ve played three teams in the tournament that everybody talks about their defense, and our guys have kind of taken offense to that,” he said. “We feel that we just play at a faster pace than a lot of teams. Sometimes we get overlooked defensively. I think five of their first seven points came because we missed box outs.”
Chace Coomer made two 3-pointers in the first period, and the first of those at 6:25 put the Braves in front to stay at 7-3.
The junior guard made his second three a minute later, and Jack Benter made three field goals and both of his free throw attempts to give the Braves a 18-10 lead at the end of the first period.
Coomer added his third shot from behind the arc to open the scoring in the second period.
“Chace coming out hitting those shots early (was big), and they had a hard time covering Jack,” Coach Benter said. “He was able to score the ball and create some shots.
“Micah Sheffer made some shots, and Parker Hehman had eight assists and two turnovers.”
After Isaac Andrews scored for the Raiders, Benter took over the scoring load for the Braves by making eight of their final 10 points of the half, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer that gave his team more momentum than it already had. The Braves found themselves up 31-14 at that point.
Coach Benter said he had a lot of respect for Wapahani, and the Raiders showed in the third period why they won 26 games this year by going on a 14-3 run to cut Brownstown’s lead to 34-28.
The Raiders scored the first four points of the third. Benter stopped their momentum with a 3-pointer, before Wapahani scored 10 straight points, and Andrews’ 3-pointer with 2:20 on the clock made it a 34-28 score.
Micah Sheffer scored off an offensive rebound, and Benter added two free throws for a 38-28 score going into the fourth period.
Early in the fourth period the Braves took a play out of the Harlem Globetrotters playbook. Benter had the ball, and was double-teamed on the low block on the left side of the lane.
He saw Sheffer open in the right corner and somehow flipped the ball behind his back directly to Sheffer, who drained a 3-pointer to make it a 41-29 game.
Coach Benter said his first thought was “no, yes. He’s had so many of those in his four years. They are games that you just have to sit back sometimes and shake your head.
“There’s not many guys in the nation in high school that can make plays like that,” he said.
The Braves outscored the Raiders 14-7 the remainder of the game to coast to the win and enable Benter to clear his bench, and each time a BC starter approached the bench to receive hugs from the coaching staff, they received loud cheers from the large contingent of Brownstown fans.
Benter again topped the Braves in scoring with 25 points, Coomer scored 13 and Sheffer had 11. Benter and Sheffer topped the Braves with six rebounds each.
Isaac Andrews topped the Raiders (26-3) with 21 points, and his little brother, Eli Andrews scored seven. The remainder of the team scored eight points.
The Braves finished 28-4 and set a record for wins in a season.
Class 2A State Championship — Gainbridge Fieldhouse
Brownstown; 18;13;7;17;-55
Wapahani; 7;7;14;8;-36
Brownstown Central (28-4) — Jack Benter 9 5-5 25, Parker Hehman 0 2-2 2, Chace Coomer 5 0-0 13, Micah Sheffer 4 1-2 11, Colby Hall 2 0-0 4, Adam Stahl 0 0-0 0, Lane Pendleton 0 0-0 0, Pierson Wheeler 0 0-0 0, Greg Hutcheson 0 0-0 0, Caiden Gwin 0 0-0 0, Carter Covert 0 0-0 0, Owen Wischmeier 0 0-0 0, totals 20 8-9 55.
Wapahani (26-3) — Nick Cook 1 0-0 2, Nate Luce 2 0-0 4, Isaac Andrews 8 1-2 21, Camden Bell 1 0-0 2, Mason Barton 0 0-0 0, Eli Andrews 3 1-6 7, totals 15 1-2 36
3-Point Goals: Brownstown (Coomer 3, Benter 2, Sheffer 2), Wapahani (I. Andrews 4, E. Andrews 1)
Rebounds- Brownstown 23 (Benter 6, Sheffer 6), Wapahani 25 (Cook 9)
Turnovers- Brownstown 4, Wapahani 8
Fouls- Brownstown 7, Wapahani 11