Braves Basketball and Braves Sports

SCOTTSBURG

Coach Dave Benter described the first-quarter performance by his Brownstown Central boys basketball team Friday night in weather terms.

“The first quarter was kind of a perfect storm, the way we played,” he said of when the Braves took a 34-9 lead and went on to roll to an 82-46 Mid-Southern Conference victory.

Brownstown held a 6-5 lead before Brett McCory hit a pair of 3-point baskets to start the Braves on a 28-4 run that gave them a 25-point lead going into the second quarter

McCory and Chaz Schneider both had two 3-pointers and 12 points in the first period to help the Braves to a 13-for-21 shooting performance.

“The first quarter, I thought we really disrupted them defensively,” Benter said as the Warriors had 12 turnovers in that quarter and 36 for the game. “That led to a lot of easy offense for us, and we shot the ball well. Defensively, we generated a lot of turnovers that led to a lot of transition, and then we made shots on top of that. You’re not going to have those quarters every night, but it’s good to get off to a good start.”That marks the first time this season the Braves have scored 30 or more points in a quarter.

“I was disappointed at the start of the second period to get outscored 17-4,” Benter said. “I thought our energy level really dropped. We ended the half on an 8-0 run, and I thought we built on that the second half.”

Scottsburg’s Brandon Boswell scored back-to-back baskets, and his second came with 3:20 left in the half to make the score 38-26 before McCory scored five straight points for a 43-26 cushion. Collin DeHart closed the first-half scoring with a 3-point basket.

“We played with a lot of energy, but we just turned the ball over too much in the second half,” Benter said of when his team had nine of its 13 turnovers.

With Skylar Thompson scoring five points and grabbing three rebounds inside, and Hayden Stuckwisch and Dylan Patman hitting 3-pointers, the Braves outscored the Warriors 19-13 to increase their lead to 65-29 heading into the fourth quarter.

McCory scored a career-high 31 points, while Schneider and Thompson added 12 points each. The Braves made 8 of 21 3-point shots, and the Warriors were 3 for 10.

Christian Evans was high scorer for the Warriors with 16 points, and he was the only player on his team with more than six points.

“I thought our defensive energy was really good,” Benter said. “We were able to play a lot of guys that played a big part in that. It seemed when our subs came in, they did a nice job of disrupting Scottsburg on their offensive end.”

The rebounds were even at 26, and Thompson was high for the Braves with nine.

The Braves are 2-0 in the MSC, with both wins coming on the road.

“Winning on the road is good,” Benter said. “People don’t understand how hard it is sometimes to win on the road in the conference. We’ve got two of them out of the way, and we’ve got a third big game next Friday (at North Harrison), and hopefully we can build on these and be ready to play.”

BRAVES SCORING  - Brett McCory 31, Chaz Schneieder 12, Skylar Thompson 12, Collin DeHart 8, Hayden Stuckwisch, 5, Dylan Patman 5, Kory Kovert 4, Drew Shoemaker 4, Austin Snodgrass 1, Chase Klinge 0

_____________________

The Brownstown Central and Seymour boys basketball teams renewed their rivalry on Friday, one night after the girls tangled at Seymour.

Offensively, Brownstown wanted to get off to a fast start, and they did that. With the Braves leading 5-4 in the first quarter, Chaz Schneider hit back-to-back 3-pointers and Chase Klinge had a basket for an 8-0 run.

The Owls had no firepower in the opening quarter, only hitting three field goals, and it carried over the whole game, and the Braves collected a 91-29 win.

“I think it was real important,” Braves coach Dave Benter said of the fast start, “and we wanted to come out right from the start and try to play with a lot of intensity on the defensive end, as well. We wanted to take them out of what they wanted to do, and I thought for the most part, we did that.”

Schneider had the hot hand for the Braves in the first quarter, scoring 18 of his team’s 28 points, including five 3-pointers. He finished the game with a game-high 34 points.

“They are a very good basketball team, and you are not going to beat anybody when you shoot the way we did,” Owls coach Scott Miller said after his squad shot 9 of 47 from the floor.

“We had a flurry of turnovers there in the second quarter,” Miller said. “These nights are not fun, these nights are not pleasant, but they are also reasons to not give up.”

The Braves outscored the Owls 22-6 in the second quarter, opening up a 50-14 lead at halftime. The Braves’ defense forced the Owls to turn the ball over 10 times in the second quarter, while the Braves had two turnovers.

“We want to come out and move the basketball and get good shots,” Benter said. “It seemed like Chaz got a lot of open shots early, and once he got it going, he got us some separation, and that opened some things up for some other guys.”

The Owls’ best offensive quarter was the third when they scored 12 points, but the Braves tallied 26.

The Braves won the fourth quarter 15-3, but the positive thing for the Owls was that took better care of the ball with four turnovers.

“We also played a quarter against junior varsity and they let off their pressure, so we have to be able to handle pressure when it’s real pressure,” Miller said. “It’s going to take work, and that’s what we are going to continue to do. We have to shoot better, and our biggest problem is putting the ball in the hole.”

The Braves finished the game shooting 31 of 64, including 10 of 25 from behind the arc.

All players on the Braves bench saw playing time and scored except for one player.

“It’s good to be able to play a lot of different guys and see who is going to be able to help us,” Benter said. “You have to use your bench throughout the year, and it’s good to get guys playing time, and I thought a lot of different guys played well.”

SALEM

If Brownstown Central’s boys basketball team displays the defensive intensity that it had in Tuesday’s season-opener at Salem for the remainder of the season, the Braves are going to cause opponents a lot of problems.

The Braves forced 15 first-half turnovers and limited the Lions to only nine points in the first 16 minutes of the Mid-Southern Conference game, and that included holding Salem scoreless in the second quarter. Brownstown maintained its solid defense in the second half in cruising to a 71-21 victory.

“I thought we did a lot of good things on defense,” said Braves senior Brett McCory, who finished with a game-high 17 points and 14 rebounds along with three steals. “Coach wants us to come out with good defensive intensity, get on them early, get them in a hole early. Our main thing is getting out and going. We need to score in transition if we’re going to beat the good teams, and defense is where it starts.

“We have the quickness on the outside to cause a lot of teams problems,” he said. “As long as we get into them without fouling, that can lead to a lot of easy baskets for us.”

Brownstown finished the game with 18 steals, five of which came in the first quarter and were converted into layups to help the Braves pull ahead 23-9.

“Good teams will create offense from their defense, and I thought we were able to do that tonight,” Braves coach Dave Benter said. “I think we’ve got probably a little bit more quickness on the perimeter this year than we’ve had in the past. We’ve just got to make sure that we’re not fouling. I thought our guys did a pretty nice job of really pressuring the ball and not fouling. I really thought our defensive energy was pretty good throughout the whole night.”

Six Braves scored in the second quarter when they outscored the Lions 14-0 and forced eight turnovers to lead 37-9 at the break.

Skylar Thompson scored the first four points of the third quarter, and by the 4:45 mark, Brownstown turned it into a 14-0 run following Chase Klinge’s steal and layup. That was the Braves’ 15th steal of the game, and it gave them a 51-9 lead.

Salem’s scoring drought ended at 4:02 with Jordan Baker’s 3-pointer, giving the Lions their first basket since scoring with seven seconds to go in the first quarter. Brownstown then scored the next seven points, and the Braves led 62-14 entering the fourth quarter.

“We knew going into the game that Salem is rebuilding, and it’s going to be a rebuilding year for them,” Benter said of the Lions losing six players to graduation. “So the important part was our guys coming out here and playing with a lot of energy, and I thought our guys did that. I thought our guys played really hard.”

Thompson was next in scoring for the Braves with 16 points, and Klinge had nine. Eleven of the 13 Braves who entered the game scored, while no Lions scored more than eight points.

Salem finished with 27 turnovers to 10 for Brownstown, and the Braves outrebounded the Lions 46-20.

_____________________________