BROWNSTOWN
This was not a planned vacation, or intermission, for the Brownstown Central boys basketball team, smack in the middle of the season.
While a spring break-type fling in a warmer climate may have been welcomed, until Friday night the Braves were sidelined not of their own free will, but by a conspiracy of circumstances.
The Braves finally squeaked in a game against Eastern Pekin and barely squeaked out a win, 47-46, after trailing most of the night.
This came after not playing with refs and whistles since Jan. 30, a 66-50 victory over Corydon Central.
“It’s been a long three weeks,” said Brownstown center Aidan Schroer.
It was a long 32 minutes Friday, too, considering the Braves led for only a few of them, yet still managed to raise their record to 10-5.
“We survived some rust,” said coach Dave Benter, who wondered ahead of time how his team would respond after to much time off with so little practice.
The combination of being quarantined due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the deluge of winter storms meant all games over a nearly a three-week period were called off. During that stretch leading to the Eastern game, the Braves were only able to practice five times, or an average of about once every four days.
“It seems like forever since we’ve played,” Benter said, “Our guys are not in game shape and the timing of it is not great.”
Eastern, 8-12, took advantage of Brownstown’s lack of rhythm on offense to build leads of 15-10 after the first quarter and 25-19 at halftime.
Whether to flummox the Musketeers, or test his players’ stamina after the layoffs, Benter substituted often in the first half. That half pretty much flew by with few fouls and few foul shots.
Brownstown took its first lead of the game in the third quarter when Jack Benter, the coach’s freshman son, hit a three-pointer to go up 28-27. However, Eastern relying mostly on two players, 6-foot-10 center Jacob Cherry and guard Caleb Jones, regained the lead and it was 37-32 going into the fourth quarter.
The last quarter was a different world. Eastern attempted a semi-stall for a couple of minutes at a time and Jack Benter showed off the outside stroke he displayed in Brownstown’s last game so long ago against Corydon when he scored 40 points that featured a school record-tying 10 three-pointers.
The younger Benter brought the Braves back with 10 points in the quarter, including a three-pointer that tied the score at 42-42. The shot that won it, though, came from guard Carter Waskom, who like Benter had 16 points. Waskom’s three from the left corner with 1:00 to go was the clincher even though Eastern added a layup and had a last gasp try with 5.8 seconds left, on a jumper that fell far short.
“Our guys made some big shots at the end,” Dave Benter said. “And we made the big stop we needed at the end.”
It was a relief to be playing again and to escape with a victory.
Jeff Lubker | For The Tribune
“I don’t know how we won that,” said Schroer, who had 6 points.
The other Braves scorers were Brandon Reynolds with 5 points and Carson Darlage and Levi Stahl with 2 apiece.
Eastern was led by Jones with 24 points and Cherry with 15.
The triumphant resumption of action was meaningful for Brownstown. February is the turn-to-the-stretch for regular-season boys basketball in Indiana. but until Friday, the month was a blank slate for the Braves. Valentine’s Day came and went. President’s Day came and went.
The last day of the regular season is next Saturday, Feb. 27. Then come sectionals. Teams are supposed to be peaking for the playoffs. Instead, Brownstown has has been on the inactive list with multiple games called off, some re-scheduled, and facing a glut of games from now through the final week.
If nothing else goes wrong, and including Friday night, the Braves will have five games in eight days between Feb. 19 and Feb. 27.
“It’s been a tough few weeks,” Dave Benter said. “It’s been a different year, I’ll tell you that.”
This is Benter’s 23rd season as coach of the Braves and the unprecedented coronavirus, with the extra aggravation of weat
her shutting down schools, transportation and practice has seemed like piling on.
When Jack Benter exploded for his 40 it was hoped that heralded a surge. Then it became a distant memory of normalcy.
“I think our guys were probably frustrated being quarantined for two weeks,” the older Benter said. “They want to play. It was all coming together.”
Now he hopes the same thought is true.