Tribune photo by John Armuth

INDIANAPOLIS - Brownstown Central senior Blaze Ayers said he was surprised and proud when he was announced as recipient of the Class 2A Arthur L. Trester Mental Attitude Award Saturday afternoon at Conseco Fieldhouse.

He was selected for the award by the Indiana High School Athletic Association Executive Committee.

"It was great to represent Brownstown Central High School and the Brownstown community," Ayers said. "To win an award this prestigious is a humbling experience. It is something I'll always remember."

Ayers said he was thinking about the game and how disappointed he was that his team lost when his name was announced as winner of the award.

Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance, the IHSAA's corporate partner, will present a $1,000 scholarship to Brownstown Central High School in the name of Ayers.

Ayers, who ranks 32nd academically in the Brownstown senior class of 156, said he found out earlier last week that he had been nominated by coach Dave Benter and Principal Joe Sheffer for the award.

Ayers topped the Braves in scoring with 18 points, including 12 of 13 at the free-throw line, in Saturday's game. He also had five rebounds, one assist and one steal in the 67-49 loss to Fort Wayne Bishop Luers.

Mark DeHart, athletic director at BCHS, said Ayers is the first Brownstown athlete in a team sport to receive a mental attitude award and he's the third overall, with the other two being golfers Josh Brewer and Chris Baker.

"That is what high school basketball is all about," Benter said of Ayers' honor. "It's all about being a student-athlete. It's about academics and preparing yourself for later in life. I've probably never been more proud of a kid, from freshman year to now, basketball-wise.

"He could very easily get frustrated. He had guys beating on him. They brought a guy off the bench just to go at him and try to get him frustrated. Providence brought guys off the bench in the sectional to get him frustrated, and you usually don't see him get frustrated. I'm probably more proud of him off the court how he has grown as a person."

The Braves trailed 24-21 at halftime and took their first lead of the second half at 25-24 on a tip-in by Ayers at the 5:10 mark of the third period. The Braves led 1-0 on a free throw by Ayers at 5:29 of the first period, and their only other lead came at 27-26 on a layup by Ryan Shoemaker at 4:38.

The Knights increased their lead to 43-31 at the end of the third period and outscored the Braves 24-18 in the fourth for their second straight 2A title.

Benter had Ayers play out on the perimeter in an effort to draw one of Luers' inside players away from the basket.

He brought the ball up the court several times, and Benter said, "Blaze can handle the ball really well and we felt if he could bring it up it would relieve some pressure, and he and Ryan did an outstanding job."

Ayers had to battle Luers' big men, 6-7 Deshaun Thomas, 6-6 Sean Day and 6-7 Alden Vachon inside. The Knights had nine blocked shots and held a 43-38 advantage in rebounds.

Ayers said, "I had to use some shot fakes and try other moves. They were pretty strong inside."

The 6-6 senior has been selected as All-Mid Southern Conference, and he will play on the Hoosier Basketball Coaches Association All-Star team. That will be Sunday at Tecumseh High School, and he will play for the boys east team.

Ayers also was chosen by Hoosier Basketball Magazine as one of the top 100 senior boys in the state. Sixty of those boys will be invited to participate in a workout April 11 at Marian College in Indianapolis, and the boys all-star team will eventually be formed from that group.

Ayers is heavily involved in St. Peter's Lutheran Church, and he is a 4-H vice president and a reserve grand champion in construction.

He plans to attend either Hanover College or Indiana State University.

This was Benter's second trip to the state finals as Braves coach, as the 2004 team lost to Jimtown in the title game.

"I'll be honest, I probably enjoyed this run more," Benter said. "There was a lot of pressure on us the first time. We were ranked No. 1 and Jimtown was ranked third or fourth. I've had three sectional winners in 11 years and I've not had a group that has maintained the focus that this group has had.

"In our first five tournament games, we took maybe three or four bad shots, and how many other high school teams can say that? They have played so smart, they have been so focused, they have done everything I have asked and they have represented our school real well.

Those receiving special honors at Monday night's Brownstown Central boys basketball awards program were, from left, cheerleader Jamie Gastineau and players Cody Allman, Ryan Shoemaker, Blaze Ayers, Taylor Wischmeier, Kelley Wagner and Jeff Turmail. Tribune photo by Zach Spicer

 

BROWNSTOWN - When Dave Benter saw Blaze Ayers on the basketball court as an eighth-grader, he saw an "awkward" player who easily got frustrated and down on himself.

One day, after Benter coached Ayers at a summer tournament, Benter talked to Ayers.

"It didn't really seem like he enjoyed the game of basketball that much," Benter said. "I asked him, I said, ‘What do you expect? What do you want? And I said, ‘Where do you think you'll be in four years? He said, ‘I want to be one of Brownstown's best players ever.'"

Now that Ayers has gone through four years of basketball at Brownstown Central HighSchool and was part of a team this year that was the Class 2A state runner-up, one could say that he's left his mark.

"I knew Blaze was going to be big," Benter said. "We did think that he could be really successful in certain areas, but I never had any dream of how good he would turn out to be. Not only has he grown as a player, but he's grown as a person. I don't know if basketball has ever been better for an individual than what it's been for Blaze."

For those reasons and for all Ayers has accomplished, he was named the team's most valuable player at Monday night's awards program at the BCHS auditorium.

Ayers also had the team's highest field goal percentage (56.7) and he received the outstanding defense award.

This season, the 6-6 senior was named to the all-tourney team at the Graber Post Buildings Classic, the Southridge Regional and the state finals. He also was named all-Mid Southern Conference, and at the state finals, he received the Arthur L. Trester Mental Attitude Award for Class 2A.

On Sunday, he played in the Hoosier Basketball Coaches Association All-Star Classic, and this Saturday, he is one of 60 seniors throughout Indiana invited to take part in the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association Top 60 Workout, which will eventually be narrowed down to form the state all-star team that will play against the Kentucky All-Stars in June.

Benter said Ayers is the first player he's coached to be invited to the workout.

Three other statistical awards were handed out Monday. Junior Taylor Wischmeier had the highest free throw percentage (78.5) and most rebounds (211), and junior Ryan Shoemaker led the team in assists (120).

Wischmeier's other acknowledgements were all-MSC and all-tourney team at the Southridge Regional, and Shoemaker was named to the all-tourney team at the state finals.

The MVP award was one of two awards voted on by the players. The other was the Jonathon Brewer Mental Attitude Award, which went to senior Jeff Turmail.

Benter took time to recognize the four seniors, Ayers, Turmail, Stuart Robison and Chris Hinton. Of the four, Ayers was the only starter, and even when the other three didn't get as much playing time, Benter said, they never complained.

"Jeff is a guy that really loves basketball and is one of the most dependable guys," Benter said. "He is always one of the first guys out shooting (in practice) and he's always one of the last guys to leave the gym, and those are the type of guys that every coach dreams about."

Of Robison, Benter said, "There was not a better attitude in the locker room than Stuart Robison. He'd come to practice and work hard every day. That really says a lot about the character of Stuart. If you look around the room, there's a lot of successful people in here. Ten years from now, this guy might be the most successful person in here. He is very intelligent, he is very driven, he wants to be successful in life."

While Hinton suffered an injury during the season, Benter said that didn't stop him from working hard when he was in the game. Benter noted Hinton's contributions in the regional and state finals games in particular.

Junior varsity coach Kevin Gwin also presented his team with certificates and handed out two special awards. The free throw award went to junior Kelley Wagner (75 percent) and junior Cody Allman was named most improved. Gwin just completed his 16th season as coach at Brownstown, and the team finished 11-7 this winter.

Carey Lambring's freshman boys team was 9-6, and he presented certificates to his 10 players as well.

Cheerleading head coach Angie Johnson presented her girls with certificates, too. Jamie Gastineau received the mental attitude award.

Reflecting on the season, Benter admitted he didn't know what to expect, with losing key seniors to graduation the year before.

"We had a pretty good summer, but there were still concerns as to how everything would come together once the season got started," Benter said. "One of my big concerns going into the season was how mentally tough this group would be."

He said they battled through tough holiday tournament losses and lost only three games beyond that point.

"My college coach always used to tell me the measure of a man is not how he acts and responds when things are going well, but the measure of a man is how he responds when his back is against the wall and things are not going well," Benter said. "The last three or four weeks of the season was probably the most enjoyable three or four weeks of my coaching career.
"This team could have got beat in the final game of the sectional and it still would have been a special team for me. I had a kid tell me this week at one of the meetings that this is one of the closest teams he's ever been a part of at any level and any sport, and I could feel that from this team.
"Without that type of team atmosphere, without that type of chemistry, the season would have never been possible for us to make the run that we did in the tournament and come together and play as well as what we did those last few weeks of the season."

Benter said this team defied the odds by coming together and making it happen. They finished 20-7 overall and 7-2 in the MSC.

Hickory Husker
HickoryHusker.com Publisher

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- For three and a half quarters Brownstown looked to be holding the kryptonite to Luers' Superman. With 4:38 left in the third, a lay-up by Ryan Shoemaker gave the Braves a 27-26 advantage, but that proved to be the high water mark for Brownstown, as Luers pulled away for a 67-49 win...

AP

Luers smothering perimeter pressure produced 14 steals and 17 turnovers, while All-Stater Deshaun Thomas powered his way to 34 points and 15 rebounds. Lawrence Barnett and Ken Mullen added 15 points and 14 points respectively for the back-to-back State Titlists.

The Braves were not without their heroes as Trester Award winner, Blaze Ayers finished with a team high 18 and Taylor Wishmeier pulled down 13 rebounds.

One note: Both teams combined for 16 blocked shots -- Luers 9, Brownstown 7.

With his 34 points, Luers' Thomas moves into the #11 spot among all-time scorers in Indiana high school history.

Score by Quarters
FW BISHOP LUERS............... 10 14 19 24 -- 67
BROWNSTOWN CENT........... 05 16 10 18 -- 49

INDIANAPOLIS — Fort Wayne Luers junior Deshaun Thomas hopes this wasn’t his last game at Conseco Fieldhouse.

Thomas had 34 points and 15 rebounds, leading the Knights past Brownstown Central 67-49 on Saturday for their second consecutive Indiana high school Class 2A basketball title.

“My dream is to be in the NBA,” said the 6-7 guard. “It feels great to get another state championship, especially on the (Indiana) Pacers’ court. I’m just trying to follow my dreams.”

Thomas and the Knights (23-4) were too much for Brownstown (20-7), which fell short of winning its first state title.

“Deshaun is pretty good, as far as a big guy that changes your defense,” Luers coach James Blackmon said. “You have to center a lot of things around Deshaun.”

Trailing by three at halftime, the Braves began the third quarter with four straight points from Blaze Ayers to take a 25-24 lead. However, Luers answered with a 14-2 run to open a comfortable 38-27 advantage. Lawrence Barnett had eight of his 12 points during the spurt.

“Once they went up, I was like, ’Oh my gosh, it’s a game now,”’ Thomas said. “I was kind of scared for a minute, but we kept our heads and hit some big shots.”

The Luers standout had eight straight points to end the third quarter and begin the fourth, extending the Knights’ lead to 48-31.

“Thomas is the best high school player I’ve seen,” said Brownstown coach Dave Benter. “There’s not really anybody in the state that can control him. He’s incredible.”

After the Braves scored the first point of the game, Luers ran off the next 10 to open an early lead. Brownstown went four minutes without scoring before Ayers hit a pair of free throws. The Braves shot 1-of-7 from the field in the period and committed nine turnovers.

Brownstown chipped away at the deficit in the second quarter, pulling within 18-17 on Ayers’ two free throws with 3 minutes left. The Knights extended their advantage back to five before settling for a 24-21 halftime lead.

Ayers finished with 18 points and Ryan Shoemaker scored 10 for Brownstown.
Barnett and Luers’ Ken Mullen, Ayers and Shoemaker were named to the AP All-Tourney team. Ayers also received the 2A Trester Award for mental attitude.

______________________________________

Brownstown Central junior guard Ryan Shoemaker takes the ball to the hoop against Fort Wayne Bishop Luers' Ken Mullen during Saturday's Class 2A boys state championship game at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Shoemaker scored 10 points in the game. Tribune photo by John Armuth

90Official Basketball Box Score

Official Basketball Box Score
FW BISHOP LUERS vs BROWNSTOWN CENT
3-28-09 1:00pm EDT at Conseco Fieldhouse - Indianapolis, IN

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VISITORS: FW BISHOP LUERS 23-4
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
01 THOMAS, Deshaun..... * 11-20   3-10   9-10   6  9 15   4  34  1  1  3  2  31
03 MULLEN, Ken......... *  3-4    0-0    4-6    1  3  4   1  10  4  4  0  3  27
05 BARNETT, Lawrence... *  5-18   2-6    0-2    4  1  5   2  12  2  1  0  5  31
32 BLACKMAN, Evan...... *  4-8    0-3    1-3    3  3  6   1   9  3  3  2  3  31
40 DAY, Sean........... *  0-2    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   4   0  0  1  4  0  19
10 KNAPKE, James.......    0-3    0-0    0-0    2  0  2   0   0  0  0  0  0   1
22 SORG, Kyle..........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   1
24 SORG, Eric..........    0-2    0-1    0-0    1  0  1   0   0  0  0  0  0   2
34 KUHN, Jake..........    0-3    0-1    0-0    3  1  4   1   0  0  1  0  1  14
50 VACHON, Alden.......    1-1    0-0    0-0    0  2  2   2   2  0  0  0  0   2
52 GHOLSTON, Dmitri....    0-2    0-1    0-0    1  0  1   1   0  1  0  0  0   1
   TEAM................                         2     2
   Totals..............   24-63   5-22  14-21  23 20 43  16  67 11 11  9 14 160

TOTAL FG% 1st Half:  9-28 32.1%   2nd Half: 15-35 42.9%   Game: 38.1%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  1-11  9.1%   2nd Half:  4-11 36.4%   Game: 22.7%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  5-8  62.5%   2nd Half:  9-13 69.2%   Game: 66.7%   2,1


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOME TEAM: BROWNSTOWN CENT 20-7
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
12 ALLMAN, Spencer..... *  1-7    1-5    0-0    1  0  1   4   3  0  0  0  1  22
20 SHOEMAKER, Ryan..... *  5-10   0-0    0-1    1  2  3   2  10  3  5  0  2  29
30 LEITZMAN, Michael... *  2-4    0-0    1-2    2  3  5   1   5  2  4  0  1  28
34 WISCHMEIER, Taylor.. *  2-11   0-3    0-0    3 10 13   1   4  0  3  4  2  29
44 AYERS, Blaze........ *  3-14   0-0   12-13   3  2  5   3  18  1  4  2  1  31
10 TURMAIL, Jeff.......    1-2    0-1    0-0    1  0  1   2   2  0  0  0  0   5
14 ROBISON, Stuart.....    2-3    1-2    0-0    0  1  1   0   5  1  0  0  0   2
22 SNODGRASS, Jalen....    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   0   0  0  0  0  0   1
32 ALLMAN, Cody........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   1
42 HINTON, Chris.......    0-2    0-0    0-0    2  0  2   4   0  0  1  1  0  11
50 WAGNER, Kelley......    1-1    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   2  0  0  0  0   1
   TEAM................                         5  1  6
   Totals..............   17-54   2-11  13-16  18 20 38  17  49  7 17  7  7 160

TOTAL FG% 1st Half:  6-24 25.0%   2nd Half: 11-30 36.7%   Game: 31.5%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  1-4  25.0%   2nd Half:  1-7  14.3%   Game: 18.2%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  8-10 80.0%   2nd Half:  5-6  83.3%   Game: 81.3%   1,1


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Officials: Greg McAdams, Thomas Lynch & P.J. Pitts
Technical fouls: FW BISHOP LUERS-None. BROWNSTOWN CENT-None.
Attendance:
Score by Periods                1st  2nd  3rd  4th   Total
FW BISHOP LUERS...............   10   14   19   24  -   67
BROWNSTOWN CENT...............    5   16   10   18  -   49
First Session Attendance:11569
Arthur L Trester Mental Attitude Winner: Brownstown Cent. #44 Blaze Ayers

Points in the paint-FWBL 36,BC 28. Points off turnovers-FWBL 19,BC 7.
2nd chance points-FWBL 23,BC 16. Fast break points-FWBL 20,BC 7.
Bench points-FWBL 2,BC 9. Score tied-1 time. Lead changed-5 times.
Last FG-FWBL 4th-01:22, BC 4th-00:03.
Largest lead-FWBL by 25 4th-03:51, BC by 1 1st-05:29.

The Brownstown Central Braves file onto the floor of Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis before Saturday's Class 2A state championship game. Tribune photo by John Armuth

_____________________________________

 

 

 

 

Photo/Jeff Lubker WORKING?to get past Fort Wayne Bishop Luers’ guard Lawrence Barnett, junior Michael Leitzman finished with five points in the Braves’ 67-49 loss in Saturday’s class 2A state championship game at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Luers won their second consecutive state title, led by junior Deshaun Thomas, who finished with 34 points and 15 rebounds for the Knights.

By Chad Fleetwood - cfleetwood@thebanner.com

The BCHS boys’ basketball team’s thrilling post-season run came to a bittersweet end at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis last Saturday, as the Braves fell to defending class 2A state champions Fort Wayne Bishop Luers, 67-49.

 

 

The Knights posed a sort of David versus Goliath scenario for the underdog Braves, with junior Deshaun Thomas coming in considered as one of the nations’ most sought-after high school recruits. However, with gritty defense and relentless hustle, the Braves were able to put the defending champs, and their blue chip power forward, up against the ropes early in the second half.

 

 

Brownstown took a 1-0 lead to start the contest when Blaze Ayers made the first of two free throw attempts with 5:30 remaining in the first period. Luers then went on a 10-0 run, and led 10-3 following Ayers’ second trip to the charity stripe. Michael Leitzman cut the Braves’ deficit to five points when he sliced through the lane for a bucket to end the opening quarter. Leitzman found fellow guard Ryan Shoemaker cutting to the rim for a lay-up to start the second frame, pulling BC to within three, 10-7. Sophmore Spencer Allman connected on a triple and another pair of free throws by Ayers left the Knights ahead by a point with 2:43 left in the first half. Ayers knocked down two more from the foul line to end the first half, leaving the Braves down by three heading into the break, 24-21.

 

 

Thomas finished with 14 points in the first half despite being clearly frustrated by the Braves’ relentless, physical, interior defense. Ayers led the way for BC, scoring all seven of his first half points from the free throw line. He would continue the trend throughout the second half, going 12 of 13 from the foul line, to finish with a team-high 18 points. He corralled five rebounds, registered two blocks, a steal, and an assist in 31 minutes of action. His tireless performance, which included a stint as point guard to help Brownstown break through the Knights’ defensive pressure, netted the 6’6” senior center the Arthur L. Trester Mental Attitude Award for class 2A. Head coach Dave Benter gave his squad credit for all they’ve accomplished since losing to Orleans at home to close out the regular season.

 

 

“I’ve not had a group maintain the kind of focus this team has shown. They’ve been so smart, played so focused, and really represented our school well,” Benter explained during a post-game press conference, as Ayers and Shoemaker sat on either side of him. “I think we adjusted in the second quarter a little bit. I think we had them a little frustrated at halftime. I really hated to see the horn go off and give them a chance to regroup.”

 

 

Unfortunately for droves of Brownstown fans who made the trek north, Luers indeed regrouped during intermission, and found a higher gear in the third period. Before the Knights could get on track, the Braves were able to give Thomas and his teammates a brief scare. Ayers scored four straight points to open the third period, and gave BC its second lead of the game three minutes into the second half. Shoemaker was open underneath once more, with Ayers notching an assist, to nudge the Braves back in front following a tip-in by Thomas, putting Brownstown up 27-26 with 4:38 remaining in the third period. Luers rattled off 13 straight points in a span of two and a half minutes that proved to be more than the Braves could overcome. Benter pointed to a pair of buckets by Lawrence Barnett as backbreakers for the Braves.

 

 

“(Lawrence) Barnett hit those two threes and then we turned the ball over a couple times and missed some shots that we normally make,” Benter explained. “And, all of a sudden it goes from a one-point lead for us, to we’re down nine. They (Luers) are not a team you can play from behind. They’re probably one of the three most talented teams in the state.”

 

 

Thomas ended the game with 34 points and 15 rebounds to go with three blocks and two steals. Benter didn’t downplay the Ohio State recruit’s impact on the game.

 

 

“Thomas is the best high school player I’ve seen, obviously there’s not really anybody in the state that can control him,” Benter said. “He’s incredible.”

 

 

In an extremely physical game, Benter said the rough and tumble style of play didn’t create problems for his team, rather it was the speed of the game that exposed an advantage in Luers’ favor.

 

 

“The physical-ness doesn’t bother our guys, we’ve maybe been the most physical team in all of our games,” Benter said. “The quickness, you just can’t simulate that in practice. I haven’t coached a kid in 11 years that is as quick as their (Luers) slowest starter.”

 

 

Shoemaker finished with 10 points, three assists, three boards, and two steals in the loss, and summed up the Knights’ third quarter run simply.

 

 

“They are so quick,” he said. “You’ve got to stay with them for 32 minutes, and when you’re having to play at a pace that’s a lot quicker than what you normally play, it wears on you. We just ran out of gas at the end.”

 

 

Leitzman and senior Stuart Robison finished with five points each, and Taylor Wischmeier scored four to go with a team-high 13 rebounds. Allman was held to three points, and seniors Jeff Turmail and Chris Hinton added two points each for the Braves, who finished 20-7 for the season.

 

 

 

 

Class 2A State Championship

 

 

Saturday, March 28, at Conseco Fieldhouse

 

 

 

 

Fort Wayne Bishop Luers 10 14 19 24-67

 

 

Brownstown Central 5 16 10 18-49

 

 

 

 

BCHS: Ayers 18; Shoemaker 10; Leitzman 5; Robison 5; Wischmeier 4; Allman 3; Turmail 2; Wagner 2.

 

 

Luers: Thomas 34; Barnett 12; Mullen 10; Blackman 9; Vachon 2.

 

___________________________________

SOUTHPORT - "This is a dream come true," Brownstown Central sophomore Spencer Allman said after the Braves defeated the Winchester Golden Falcons 54-43 at Saturday's Southport Semistate.

"Every little kid out in their driveway shooting around wishes they could be like a team that goes to state, and our dream's coming true," Allman said. "We're going to Conseco."

The Braves (20-6) advance to the state finals this Saturday at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. There, they will face Fort Wayne Luers (22-4), who defeated North Judson 78-48 at Saturday's Warsaw Semistate, for the Class 2A title. The Knights, ranked No. 2 in 2A by The Associated Press, won last year's state championship.

On Saturday, the Braves knew what they had coming from No. 4 Winchester.

"We knew their press was going to be pretty tough to get through and they had a really good offensive rebounding team," Allman said. "We knew that they had a really good player in Tyler Koch and they had a lot of role players to go with him, and we just came out and executed and got the job done."

Braves junior guard Michael Leitzman also was aware of the Falcons' threats.

"In the first quarter, they had seven offensive rebounds," Leitzman said of Winchester. "After that first quarter, we started rebounding real well, and I thought we took care of the ball overall."

The Braves worked against the Falcons' press throughout the game, and that really didn't cause the Braves problems until the third quarter.

"All week in practice, we were going five against seven on the press so it was a little bit easier when you're five-on-five," Leitzman said. "We worked real hard this week on the press, and I thought we did a great job."

Moves in the lane and unselfish passes to the open man on the perimeter boosted the Braves to a 10-2 lead at 4:50 of the first quarter. Taylor Wischmeier's bucket at 27 seconds closed out scoring for the quarter, and BC led 17-10.

Allman hit back-to-back 3s for the Braves in the second quarter, and his second one boosted BC's lead to 14. The Falcons were held to seven points, and the Braves led 27-17 at halftime. Allman, who had four 3-pointers in the first half, finished with a game-high 17 points.

"Normally, teams in the tournament have been all over you," Allman said. "I've missed my first few shots almost every game (in the postseason). (The coaches) told me not to get frustrated by missing my first few shots because teams are going to be on me, but (the Falcons) were so worried about Blaze (Ayers) inside, when Blaze would get the ball inside, they would double- and triple-team him so I was wide open."

Braves coach Dave Benter liked what he saw from his team in the first half.

"The way (the Falcons) play, they really pressure the ball and then they really pack the lane on penetration and when the ball goes into the post," Benter said. "We really felt our shooters would get some shots. Under pressure, you've got to be able to find them, and our guards did a nice job of getting open spots, and then our passing by Michael, Ryan (Shoemaker) and Blaze was just outstanding there in the first half."

Koch, Winchester's leading scorer, was injured in the first quarter, but he returned in the second. By the third quarter, Koch was back in business as he was 3-for-3 from the field and his basket at 5:16 pushed his team within single digits.

Levi Cross led the Falcons on a 10-0 run in the third, and his basket off of an offensive rebound at 34 seconds tied the game at 35.

Ayers found Leitzman open in the post 19 seconds later before Neal Beshears scored in the final seconds to make it 37-37 going into the final period. Ayers was held scoreless in the first half, but he redeemed himself by scoring 15 points in the second half.

 "We felt they would start extending the pressure on the perimeter more and they did, and I just kept telling (Ayers), ‘You've got to be aggressive, you've got to attack,' and he did and he was just unbelievable the whole game. Even though he didn't score in the first half, he was a huge presence on the court."

Allman hit his fifth 3 of the game to open the fourth quarter, and the Falcons never gained the lead. Winchester was 2-for-13 from the field in the fourth, and two late turnovers didn't help the cause. They finished with a 21-4 season record.

"Our guards are real smart about when to pull it out, when to attack, and we just worked all week and we knew we would be in for a battle," Benter said. "But I can't say enough about how our guys played and how they handled adversity when Winchester made their run in the third quarter. We just hung tough, and a lot of different guys again made big plays."

Besides Allman's 17 points and Ayers' 15, Wischmeier contributed 11 points. 

"Today actually felt like any other game," Allman said. "I was real nervous before sectional, real nervous before both regional games, but today I just had a feeling we were going to win this game."

Leitzman, who had four points and three assists, said, "This is what we've worked for all season and it's finally here. We played well as a team all year long and we all get along real well."

The presence of all of the Braves' fans and the Band of Braves made it feel like home, Allman said.

"It's unbelievable," Allman said. "A lot of teams wish they could have this chance, and we're just lucky enough this year to have this chance and get the job done. We've got one more to seal the deal."

Leitzman was just trying to let everything sink in.

"It feels great," he said. "It's almost like it's not true, but it's great."

Benter felt his team could get the win.

"We knew that we had a chance when we played really well that we were going to be difficult to beat, but we had to get some things corrected with the way we played late in the year," he said, "and it just seems like every weakness the guys had late in the year that they had to shore up, they've done it. Collectively, I could go through each person and give them two or three things that they were doing wrong late in the year, and it seems like everybody has corrected those mistakes at the right time."

Now, the work must continue at the state finals.

"You've got to not only be good, you've got to have some luck, you've got to have good leadership, you've just got to be able to make plays late in the game," Benter said, "and we've done that the whole tournament."

 

BC seniors look forward to state basketball finals

Brownstown Central seniors, from left, Chris Hinton, Jeff Turmail and Stuart Robison, celebrate on the sidelines Saturday as they realize the Braves have won the Southport Semistate game against Winchester. Tribune photo by John Armuth

Brownstown Central High School

Brownstown Central tips off with Winchester Saturday

BROWNSTOWN - Jeff Turmail, Blaze Ayers, Stuart Robison and Chris Hinton said Brownstown Central's postseason run has been a highlight of their high school basketball careers.

The Braves won the Providence Sectional and Southridge Regional the past two weekends, and the four seniors, as well as their teammates, now are ready to see what the Winchester Golden Falcons will dish out at Saturday's Southport Semistate.

The Braves enter the game with a 19-6 record, while the Golden Falcons are 21-3 and will be playing for their third straight semistate title. The Braves' only semistate win was in 2004.

"They have a lot of great players and they've had a great team the past few years and they've been there before," Turmail said of Winchester. "They play a really tight defense, they pressure the ball and we've been working a lot trying to work against the press."

Hinton noted Winchester's 6-6 senior, Tyler Koch, who has signed to play college basketball at Wright State. Winchester has another 6-6 player, Neal Beshears, and a 6-8 sophomore, Brandt Miller, that the Braves will have to deal with.

Coach Dave Benter said preparing for Winchester is completely different than preparing for Bloomfield in the first game of last week's regional.

"With Bloomfield, we had to prepare for a team that's going to slow it down and be real patient and deliberate," Benter said. "Now, we've got a team that's really going to get after us and press us and try shoving it down our throats on offense. We haven't seen that kind of athletes and athleticism and pressure, but we've seen teams try to do this."

Benter said Winchester is not a one-man team, as they have contributions from several players in points and rebounds.

"They offensive rebound as well as any team I've seen, and that's been one of our strengths this year," Benter said. "Even though we've been a good rebounding team, if we're not ready to rebound Saturday, we could really get embarrassed on the boards.
"We're big, but they are a different type of big. Their 6-6 guys are both inside-outside guys that are really athletic, but there are other guys that do a really nice job just because of their aggressiveness of crashing the backboard. They're really going to try beating us up and play at a really fast tempo, and we've got to make sure that we don't let them go on huge runs. That's their bread and butter. They go on big runs and we can't let that happen."

To be successful Saturday, Robison said, "We just can't afford to make a lot of mistakes. They play really fast-paced and they shoot a lot of threes, and we've really got to handle their pressure on defense and defend well ourselves. We just need to be playing the way we've been playing. We've been hitting a lot of shots and playing solid defense."

Also key on Saturday, Turmail said, is limiting turnovers.

Benter said his team's focus has been on target this week, and he's hoping that plays to the team's benefit.

"Our guys have been focused again and I've been real pleased with the way our mental approach has been all week," he said.

The Braves have some size in the post with 6-6 Ayers and 6-7 junior Taylor Wischmeier, and the team has played consistently in their two sectional wins and two regional wins. Another advantage is having the leadership of four, four-year basketball players.

"I've played for four years and I'm the sixth man usually and I'll come in and try to help the team out," Turmail said. "If I have an open shot, I'll shoot it. In the last few weeks, (Benter) has told me I've been playing a lot better defense, and I hope I can continue doing that."

Ayers is the only starter among the seniors, and he's been at varsity three years. He said his focus is getting stops on defense, rebounding and taking care of the ball, but he's tried becoming an offensive powerhouse as well.

"I've been more of a scoring threat in the post and just been more of a team player," which Ayers said includes being a leader on the team and helping the underclassmen be mentally focused in every game.

This is Robison's second season on the varsity squad, and he said, "I just need to come in and play defense and do the little things that need to get done. I don't score a lot, but just go out and play solid defense and fundamentals."

Hinton, also in his second varsity season, said his role includes defense and rebounding.

The four seniors said they have liked being a part of a team that works together.

"Our team, we've had a lot of great games," Turmail said. "The Seymour game has been a great one, and through the tournament so far, we've just continued to play good every game. The team had a lot of high hopes (going into the season), but we knew that we had to keep playing good. We started out kind of rough during the Christmas break when we had a few losses, and since then, we've continued to play better."

Ayers said, "We're pretty close. We usually don't have any problems or anything, and we try to focus on teamwork and just going out and playing our hardest and win."

Robison added, "Our team has been playing really well together as a whole. We've had better chemistry and been on the same page more in the games. We've played a lot better defense. I think all of us as a team get along real well together, and I've made a lot of friends playing basketball here."

After losing in the sectional the past three years, the four seniors agreed that making it as far as the team has this season is something they will long remember.

"It feels great, especially being my senior year, to go all the way to the semistate," Turmail said. "It would feel a lot better if we go to state next weekend."

Ayers, who expressed his excitement when the team won sectional in overtime, said, "At the beginning of the season, I was just hoping for a sectional victory, but then after that, you've just got to keep playing hard and keep winning."

It's been a good year for Robison and Hinton, because they also were on the Braves football team that advanced to semistate.

"Last year, we came and lost the first game of the (basketball) sectional, but I never doubted that we could make it this far," Robison said. "It's really a great feeling. I know I don't play that much, but I feel like I've been a really vital part of the team and I'm just happy to be a part of it."

Hinton said he knew the basketball team could do great things. And if they can continue that Saturday, they just might move on to next weekend's state finals at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

"I knew we had a really good team and we just needed to work at it and keep working hard," Hinton said. "It means a lot, especially being my senior year. I couldn't pick a better way to go out."

Rosters at a glance

Senior members of the Brownstown Central boys basketball team say they were excited about having the opportunity to practice at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis Tuesday, and they are looking forward to returning to Indianapolis Saturday to face Fort Wayne Luers.

The Braves, 20-6, will play the Knights, 22-4, at approximately 12:30 p.m. for the Class 2A state championship.

Stuart Robison and Chris Hinton, plus some of the underclassmen on the basketball team, were members of the BC football team that advanced to the semistate before losing to Heritage Christian.

Robison said, "It's like a dream come true. Losing the semistate in football, this is a chance to redeem ourselves. It's a great feeling."

Hinton said, "I've had a really good year in both football and basketball."

The Braves had a one-hour practice Tuesday after Triton practiced.

Robison said, "It was a really great experience getting to practice on the NBA floor," as Conseco is the home of the Indiana Pacers.

"When we first got there, we had time to look around and take everything in. When practice started, we just focused on what we were doing," Robison said. "It was pretty awesome to be able to go out there and shoot. It's a nice floor, a really nice facility, and when you're on the court you just focus on the basket."

Of Saturday's game, Robison said, "We're going to have to be able to shut down their offense because they're a really good offensive team, and they have a really good offensive player in Deshaun Thomas."

Hinton said, "Going up there and practicing where the pros play was a great experience. It was pretty awesome.
"We've just come together as a team and started playing together. Coach told us (after the loss to Orleans) we could either pack it in or we could come out and be ready to go. We've done really well in all aspects of the game.
"Luers is a great team. It is going to take a great effort to have a chance to win. They're fast and athletic. We watched a little bit of film on them (Tuesday). I'm real excited about Saturday."

This will be Brownstown's second trip to the 2A finals as the 2004 team lost to Jimtown in the state championship game.

Blaze Ayers, the only senior starter for the Braves, said Tuesday was the first time he has been in Conseco.

"It's a big place with the bright lights and everything. It's real exciting to be up there. It's going to be a different place to play. It's going to be intense.
"I had to get used to the court and everything (Tuesday). The court was a little bit bigger so you had to cover more space."

On Tuesday, the court was set up for the Pacers' game Wednesday night. Ayers said the court will be set up different for the high school tournament. He said he looks for markings on the floor so he knows where to be for certain plays.

Ayers, like a lot of the other players on the roster, said they have been taking it one game at a time. "After the regular season, all I had in mind was win sectional, and once we got past that, take it one step at a time.
"We've been able to take care of the ball. We've been patient on offense and not turn it over and get good shots. Also, on the defensive end, we've been able to get stops."

Jeff Turmail said dribbling and shooting at Conseco was "a neat experience. It is something I'll always remember.
"It is a little different (than playing in high school gymnasiums) just because it is so big. It's a lot different than playing in Brownstown's gym."

The Braves have won five in a row in the tournament and eight of their last nine, and Turmail said, "I knew we had a great team, and that if we played our best basketball we could make a good run and here we are going to state.
"Our team has been playing great every game. We've had challenges that we've had to overcome and here we are. We've finally made it to where we want to be, the state championship game."

Luers was ranked No. 2 in the final Associated Press Class 2A poll, while Brownstown was not ranked.

"It's going to take a lot," Turmail said of winning. "They're a really good team, one of the best teams in the state, and we'll have to be playing our best basketball."

Coach Dave Benter said the seniors have meant a lot to the program. "They've been great leaders. It is a real quiet bunch. They've worked really hard, and to go to state your senior year, that is like the pinnacle of your career. That says something in itself. We're going to miss more than just the wins and losses. They've had a lasting impact on the program."

The Braves are averaging 58.2 points per game and are giving up 47.4.

Benter said his team has improved throughout the tournament. "Our play has been outstanding. We've gotten better every week. This team has been so unselfish. I don't know how many times guys have turned down decent shots for a better shot later in the possession. We're not playing at the pace our teams here have played in the past.
"Our team is realizing that we're a pretty good half-court team. When we can get some mismatches or get some guys open after taking care of the basketball for 15 seconds or 45 seconds in a possession, these guys have really bought into that.
"We've been a great rebounding team throughout the year. We've had a couple games where we've had some lapses, but for the most part we've outrebounded our opponents by almost 10 a game.
"The Winchester coach made a comment about how many contested shots they had to shoot because of how well we defended them. The area this team has probably improved the most throughout the year is our patience and efficiency on offense. This team has probably improved as much as any team I've ever coached."

While the Braves won the championship game of the Providence Sectional 43-40 in overtime against the Pioneers and defeated Bloomfield 38-35 in the first game of the regional, Luers has won all of its tournament game by at least seven points. The Knights, who are the defending Class 2A state champions, have won 13 of their last 14.

Thomas, a 6-7 junior who has already signed to play at Ohio State, leads the Knights and the state in scoring at 31.7, and he is second in the state in rebounding at 15.7 per game. His season highs are 47 points and 27 rebounds.

By ARV KOONTZ (The Tribune)

Blaze Ayers says he has played basketball for as long as he can remember, and he has also been an inside or post player for most of his career.

At 6-foot-6 he is one of the tallest players on the Brownstown roster and says he has learned to be more physical when it comes to battling for rebounds.

"A lot of it is the physical play, and see how strong you are mentally, and competing against some of the stronger guys on the other team."

He is in his second season as a starter and said, "I want to try and help the team out and I want to raise my point average from last year since our top scorer (Kagney Fritz) is gone."

Ayers said he would rather play with his back to the basket. "I would rather drive to the basket and shoot outside. I feel comfortable dribbling to the basket. I would rather dribble right-handed. I just try to shoot over my opponents."

He said when the Braves have the ball he would rather play against a zone defense. "I can find open spots on the floor easier. I feel zone right now is better for us. As the year goes on hopefully we'll get better at man-to-man."

Ayers said one of his goals is to lead the team in rebounding, and to do that, "On the offensive end, when someone is trying to block me out I try to find angles and get around them. I just try to use more speed and cut. On defense I try to front them and then get around them."

Blaze Ayers file

Parents: Earl and Arlene Ayers
Sibling: Samuel
Sports: basketball 4 years

Key to winning: "Mental toughness because we play away a lot." The Braves won't play another home game until they meet West Washington Jan. 9.

Away games: "It can get a little bit rough when it's a close game and both sides are into it."

Home games: "They've been exciting the past few years. I really like them, especially with the cheer block we had for the Seymour game."

Goals: "I'd like to help the team out any way possible, and help the team win a sectional championship this year."

Being a student at BC: "It's pretty enjoyable on all aspects, both on and off the floor, in the classroom, hanging out with friends. "It's been four years and you keep growing every day, hopefully." He said he enjoys being in lettermen's, booster and sportsman's clubs.

Message to elementary students: "I'd tell them to it's a good idea to get involved. It's a great way to build friends, and hopefully the relationships will last you the rest of your life."

Future plans: attend college

---

By ARV KOONTZ (The Tribune)

Jeff Turmail says he is happy to contribute to the Brownstown boys basketball program any way he can.

"I'm usually sixth man so I just come in and bring a spark to the team," he said. "I come in at guard and I'll usually play two (shooting guard) or three (small forward).
"I just try to get a feel for the game. I'll usually try to look for my shot. I'm mostly an outside shooter."

Because of rescheduled games, the Braves are in the middle of playing nine games in 22 days. "We need to practice hard and get ready for the games coming up," Turmail said. "We missed three days of practice (because of the weather)."

The Braves have played both man and zone defenses this season. Turmail said, "It depends on who is in the game and the matchups. We'll press and drop back into a man-to-man. Coach (Dave) Benter tells me to look for steals on the press."

Jeff Turmail file

Stuart Robison « View Article

Braves advance to state final

Coach Dave Benter and his team react in the final moments of Saturday's semistate game at Southport. The Braves won 54-43. Tribune photo by John Armuth

Braves advance to state final

For the third straight weekend, the Brownstown Central players, coaches and managers gather for a group photo after a postseason win. This time, it was the Braves defeating Winchester at the Southport Semistate. Tribune photo by John Armuth

 

Winchester coach Chip Mehaffey was especially disappointed with his team's rebounding. The Braves became the first team in two seasons to outrebound the Golden Falcons, finishing with a 31-24 advantage.

Brownstown built part of its big first-half lead with Winchester's leading scorer in the locker room. Tyler Koch scored 37 points in last season's state title game loss and was averaging 21.5 a game this season. But his ankle injury two minutes into the game left the Golden Falcons scrambling.

The Wright State signee returned midway through the second quarter but scored just eight points.
_______________________________________

Braves win regional, join Sweet 16

Brownstown Central basketball players, cheerleaders, managers and coaches gather on the floor of Huntingburg Memorial Gym Saturday after defeating Forest Park 55-47 in the championship game of the Southridge Regional. Tribune photo by Zach Spicer

For the second straight Saturday, the Brownstown Central Braves boys basketball team were victorious in postseason play as they defeated Bloomfield 38-35 in the first round of the Southridge Regional Saturday at Huntingburg. 

That night, they returned to face Forest Park in the championship game, and the Braves made a run in the second half to take the lead and win 55-47.

Spencer Allman scored 11 points in the first game and 16 in the final game to take regional most valuable player honors. BC's Blaze Ayers and Taylor Wischmeier were named to the all-tourney team. 

The Braves (19-6) will play Winchester, who were winners of the Connersville Regional on Saturday, in Saturday's semi-state at Southport. Winchester is 21-3 after defeating Lawrenceburg 79-72 in overtime in the championship game.

_________________________________________

By Gordon Engelhardt   (Courier-Press)

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Brownstown Central nearly achieved perfection in the fourth quarter while Forest Park's Jordan Myers had to play cautiously after picking up his fourth foul early in the period.

It all added up to a 55-47 boys' basketball victory for the Braves on Saturday night in the championship game of the Class 2A Southridge Regional.

Brownstown Central was 11-for-12 from the line in the final period and made six straight field-goal attempts.

The Braves (19-6) will play No. 4 Winchester (21-3) at either Southport or Seymour in the semistate next Saturday. The site is expected to be determined on Monday by the Indiana High School Athletic Association. Seniors Myers and Casey Van Winkle scored 11 and 10 points, respectively, for No. 9 Forest Park (19-6).

"In the second half, it was not very pretty for either team," said Forest Park coach Tom Beach. "We had no gas. The tank was empty. We couldn't execute. Everything was a step slow. I thought Brownstown was the same way. They just had a little bit more gas than we did."

Although three sophomores play primary roles for the Rangers, Myers and Van Winkle will be two huge losses.

"There's only seven teams in the history of our school to win a sectional and they're one of them," Beach said. "They had a great year. It hurts to lose, but in the big picture we had a very nice season."

In the opener, Myers' basket gave Forest Park a two-point lead with 3.9 seconds left in overtime. Although he missed the ensuing free throw, Covenant Christian committed a turnover, preserving the Rangers' 68-66 victory. Myers scored all eight of the Rangers' points in overtime in finishing with a game-high 25.

In a battle of Division I recruits, Southern Illinois-bound Myers got the best of Butler-bound Andrew Smith, a 6-foot-10 center who had 22 points for Covenant Christian (14-9). Myers hit a pair of free throws to tie the score, 66-66, with 1:14 remaining in overtime.

"Jordan showed what a big-time player he is by staying composed and being able to play through with four fouls," Beach said.

Colin Welp came off the bench to score a career-high 20 points. His basket tied the score, 60-60, with 23 seconds showing in regulation.

Brownstown Central ousted Bloomfield 38-35 in the second semifinal.

__________________________________________________

Braves' seniors ready to contribute at semistate

Brownstown Central head coach Dave Benter, center, gathers with his four seniors, from left, Jeff Turmail, Stuart Robison, Blaze Ayers and Chris Hinton, after the Braves won the Southridge Regional Saturday. Tribune photo by Zach Spicer

Brownstown Central Braves win Class 2A Sectional 47

Brownstown Central players, managers, cheerleaders and coaches gather with the sectional trophy Saturday night. The Braves defeated Providence 43-40 in overtime for the win. Tribune photo by Zach Spicer

By Tom Whitus • Special to The Courier-Journal • March 8, 2009

CLASS 2A:

By JON REITER
sports@newsandtribune.com
CLARKSVILLE — In a game where each possession was a battle, Brownstown won the war.

The Braves’ Ryan Shoemaker’s 3-pointer as the overtime buzzer sounded found nothing but net, lifting Brownstown to the title of the Class 2A Providence sectional over the host Pioneers, 43-40.

Shoemaker, whose game-winner was his only field goal attempt of the second half, wasn’t the likeliest candidate to take the final shot, Brownstown coach David Benter admitted afterward. But Benter grinned ear-to-ear when discussing the buzzer-beater - and the championship - after the game.

“We’ve been so up and down — us taking a shot like that is typical of our season,” Benter said. “Ryan really struggled last Friday (in a regular-season closing loss to Orleans) and came into sectional a little down. It was nice to see him get some redemption tonight.”

The Pioneers (18-5) were snakebit at the free-throw line, making 3-of -6 during the fourth quarter while the Braves converted 10-of-10. Providence coach Lou Lefevre was quick to admit that stat made all the difference in the final outcome.

“We didn’t make them, and they made every one of them, at least that’s how it seemed,” Providence coach Lou Lefevre said. “This is as tough as it gets. I just left a locker room where there are kids in there who care about winning and being good as much as any team I’ve ever coached. I’ve had better teams, and more talented teams, but I’ve really grown to like this team in the past month. I feel badly for them.”

Providence jumped out to an early 8-0 lead behind a Nick Koetter lay-up and three-pointers by Bryce Very and David Schellenberger during the opening three minutes.

The Braves had an uphill battle fighting back during the rest of the first half, but two free-throws by Taylor Wischmeier gave Brownstown an 18-17 lead heading into halftime.

Providence spent the third quarter building a seven-point lead, 30-23, after Tucker Coots nailed a three-pointer with :09 remaining. But Brownstown’s Spencer Allman answered with a trey of his own with a few seconds remaining on the third-quarter clock, and the Braves trailed 30-26 heading into the fourth quarter.

The Pioneers led virtually the entire fourth quarter, but Brownstown was led down the stretch by 6-foot-6 center Blaze Ayers, who scored 10 of his game-high 21 points over the final eight minutes.

Ayers twice brought Brownstown to within one during the final three minutes by sinking 6-of-6 free-throw attempts. Schellenberger and Nick Koetter were only able to convert 2-of-4 from the line during that same time span, and Wischmeier’s two successful attempts with 20 seconds left tied the score at 38.

Brownstown guard Michael Leitzman attempted a game-winning three-pointer at the end of regulation, but the shot was off the mark.

“I was happy that they learned from their mistakes on Wednesday (in a close loss to Pekin Eastern) and came out and really played hard over the last two nights,” Lefevre stated. “But we’re talking about a game in which really small things matter. Making free throws is one of them, and we also made some really careless fouls.”

Neither team scored in overtime until the 1:28 mark, when Ayers made two more free throws. On Providence’s next possession, Schellenberger was fouled and also had a successful trip to the line, making both shots. Both teams missed shots on ensuing possessions, setting up Shoemaker’s shot from the right wing.

Benter said although the Braves didn’t play Providence this season, he was well aware of their reputation going in. Brownstown spent one day of practice last week specifically targeting the Pioneers as a potential opponent, and the preparation paid off.

"They are so well-coached and so disciplined,” he said. “They do so many things well that it makes it very hard to prepare for them. They’re a great team.”

The loss marked the end of the careers for five Providence seniors, Koetter, Schellenberger, Coots, Jake Koetter and Alan Brown. Schellenberger led Providence with 12 points, which included 3-of-3 shooting from beyond the arc.

Lefevre said he was disappointed by the loss for those seniors - and for the rest of his squad.

“When you win a game like this, it’s the best feeling in the world, but when you lose one like this, it feels like death,” he said. “I hate it for them, but there’s nothing I can do for them right now, and that’s the risk you take when you become an athlete.”



CLASS 2A PROVIDENCE SECTIONAL

Final

PROVIDENCE 11 6 13 8 2—40

BROWNSTOWN 7 11 8 12 5—43

Providence (18-5) — Schellenberger 12, Very 8, Coots 7, N. Koetter 6, Griffith 5, Brown 2, J. Koetter 0, A. Schmidt 0, Wethington 0.

Brownstown (17-6) — Ayers 21, Wischmeier 9, Allman 7, Hinton 3, Shoemaker 3, Leitzman 0, Turmail 0, Robison 0.

Three-point goals: Providence 6 (Schellenberger 3, Very 2, Coots); Brownstown 3 (Allman 2, Shoemaker)

Rebounds: Providence 19 (N. Koetter 5); Brownstown 19 (Ayers, Wischemier 5)

Turnovers: Providence 13, Brownstown 14.

__________________________________________

Sue Shoemaker gives her son, Ryan Shoemaker, a hug after Saturday's sectional championship game in which Ryan hit the winning 3-pointer in overtime to lift Brownstown Central over Providence 43-40. Tribune photo by Zach Spicer

 Shoemaker's clutch 3-pointer makes all the difference

CLARKSVILLE - Ryan Shoemaker's only points of the game couldn't have come at a better time.

With fever than five seconds remaining in overtime of Saturday's Class 2A Sectional 47 championship game at Providence, the Brownstown Central junior guard sank a shot from beyond the arc to break the tie and give the Braves their first sectional title since 2004. The Braves won 43-40.

"We were out of timeouts and we tried to get something going at the basket with about 40 seconds left, but we pulled it back out," Shoemaker said after the wild finish. "The guys did a nice job of creating and getting people open, and I had the ball and I had an open look and I had to take the shot. It's just a great job of my teammates getting me open."

Braves coach Dave Benter said, "We called our dribble-drive motion. I wanted to get something going at the basket. Taylor (Wischmeier) was the one that started to drive, and then he just made an unselfish play and kicked it out to Ryan and it's just a huge shot. You couldn't have scripted it any better."

The Braves' 13-for-14 showing from the free-throw line in the second half was equally important. Brownstown Central was 20-for-22 in the game.

The Braves' road to victory, however, didn't look so smooth in the first three and a half minutes of the game, when Providence leaped ahead 8-0. Brownstown Central led 8-0 in Friday's sectional game against Paoli.

Spencer Allman was fouled at 4:31 of the first quarter after making a 3-pointer to end the Pioneers' run, but Providence led 11-7 after one.

Bryce Very and Alan Brown scored within 30 seconds early in the second period before Wischmeier and Blaze Ayers answered for BC. Chris Hinton's 3-point play at 3:07 put Brownstown Central down by one, and Wischmeier's two free throws at 39 seconds gave his team the 18-17 lead at halftime.

"It was a good thing that we got back by halftime because (Providence) is a team that can shorten a game in a hurry and every possession is so crucial," Benter said.

There were two lead changes and two ties in the third quarter, and the Pioneers had the 30-23 lead on Tucker Coots' 3-pointer and two free throws within the final minute. Allman nailed a trey at the buzzer to narrow Providence's lead to four.

Ayers scored 10 of his game-high 21 points in the final period, and his two free throws at 1:08 put Brownstown Central down 37-36.

 The Pioneers' Nick Koetter was 1-for-2 at the free-throw line at 59 seconds, and Wischmeier made both of his 31 seconds later to make it 38-all.

Coots mishandled the ball while driving along the baseline and tossed it out of bounds with four seconds remaining. After BC used its final timeout of regulation, Michael Leitzman flew down the court and tossed up a trey but it fell short.

In overtime, each team made two free throws before Shoemaker made the final shot to advance to regional.

"(The coaches) preached all week (about) being mentally tough, and I think we were mentally tough throughout the game," Shoemaker said. "(Providence) made runs, but we came back and made some runs and we played well."

Of what it took to win, Shoemaker said, "Just believing, keeping our heads up and just always staying in the game and never putting our heads down, always thinking we have a chance to win."

Ayers and the Pioneers' David Schellenberger were the only players in double figures. Schellenberger had 12 points.

"After three years of having upsets, to come in, we wanted to win all of this," said Ayers, a senior. "We gave it our best. All the practices were rough getting ready for this game. Providence is really rough, so we just had to practice hard and get ready for this game."

Playing back-to-back games could have played against the Braves, but Ayers said, "We just have to keep coming in being 100 percent mentally and physically prepared every time."

Benter said, "Both teams played so hard and so smart at times, too. Our team didn't get rattled when we were down five with a couple minutes to go. Schellenberger hit a huge 3 in regulation and our guys didn't get rattled. As good as (Paoli's) Logan Laswell played (Friday) night, Ayers, in this type of game, was probably as good or better tonight. It's just an unbelievable performance, but it wasn't him only. Everybody that played tonight contributed and played exceptionally well.

"The other thing is we have balance. It was such a low scoring game and we knew that there wouldn't be many points scored, but we had guys step up and make big shots and big plays. When you play Providence, you've got to take care of the basketball, you've got to make your free throws, you've got to rebound the basketball and you've got to guard, and I thought for the most part we did all four of those."

The Braves' two sectional wins were a turnaround from a disappointing 51-39 home loss to Orleans the week before.

"I'm just so proud of the guys," Benter said. "The way we played last Friday, to put that behind them and come back and play the way we played (Friday) night and (Saturday) is just unbelievable."

Brownstown Central (17-6) will travel to the Southridge Regional on Saturday to face Bloomfield (13-10), who defeated Eastern Greene 32-30 in Saturday's Sectional 45 at Eastern.

After the sectional win, the Braves returned home to a brief pep session that included some comments from Principal Joe Sheffer before the team rode through town on firetrucks.

"I think everyone should know that we are extremely proud of the way you guys have played all year and especially these last two games," Sheffer told the team. "If you enjoyed this so much, we can come do this again next week."

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CLARKSVILLE — The Paoli Rams battled to the bitter end in Sectional 47 semifinal action at Providence High School Friday night, but could not get over the hump as the Brownstown Central Braves avenged an earlier loss to the Rams and moved on to the sectional finale with a 58-49 victory.

The Rams got past the Braves, 61-58, at Chambers Gymnasium on Feb. 7, but it proved to be too tall a task Friday night as Brownstown’s twin towers, Blaze Ayers and Taylor Wischmeier combined for 31 points and 19 rebounds to lead the Braves attack.

“We could have handled one of their big boys, but we didn’t have an answer for both of them,” Paoli coach Joe Hinton said. “The first time we played them, we got Ayers in foul trouble, but he really hurt us tonight.”

The Braves came out firing and built a quick double-digit lead (15-3) behind the play of Wischmeier and Ayers, but they could not shake the Rams, who after hitting just one of their first eight shots, came rambling back to pull within three late in the first period.

Junior Logan Laswell scored eight straight points for the Rams, pulling up for a pair of 3-pointers and taking a nice feed from Trent Manship to convert on the fastbreak before the Braves got a basket at the buzzer from Michael Leitzman to take a 17-12 lead into the second frame.

“Probably the biggest thing tonight was that Ayers didn’t get in foul trouble,” Brownstown coach Dave Benter said. “He only played about eight minutes the first time we played, so that made a big difference and I thought our balance was better and we took better care of the basketball.”

Ayers opened the second period with an easy bucket down low and Daniel Starr hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead again for the Rams, but the Braves managed to pull away to another double digit lead at the half (32-22) despite another barrage from Laswell, who scored the final seven points of the period for Paoli.

“Their size and their zone hurt us a lot,” Hinton said. “And one of the big things was that the middle was open and we just couldn’t get anything going in there. The few times we got the ball in there I think we scored, but we just couldn’t get it there enough.”

Laswell, who hit six straight shots between the first and second quarters, misfired on all three of his attempts in the third and the Rams got just two points on a field goal by Brandon Jones at the 5:40 mark as the Braves pulled ahead 40-25 heading into the final frame.

The Rams were far from done, however, as Ethan White scored off a feed from Laswell, then Laswell turned a steal into another easy bucket before Thomas Springer hit back-to-back 3-pointers to spark a 16-3 run at the outset of the fourth quarter.

Laswell took over from there, converting an old-fashioned three-point play, then draining a trey from the wing to pull the Rams back to within one with 4:42 left to play.

“We really thought if we could take care of the basketball and do a better job on Laswell, we’d have a good chance of winning the basketball game,” Benter said. “But he just really hit some tough shots. I’m not sure we defended too poorly on him, he just stepped up and hit some great shots.”

A three-point play by Ayers gave the Braves some breathing room at the 3:50 mark and the Rams could get no closer than six the rest of the way, despite 14 points in the period from Laswell, who finished with a game-high 33.

“What a game by Logan Laswell,” Hinton said. “He played his heart out and they don’t come any better than that. But you’ve got to get something out of your other kids in a game like this. Unfortunately it just wasn’t their night to hit the shots.”

The Rams finished their season with an 11-11 record.

Brownstown beats Corydon Central 61-46 in MSC game

The Braves had to do something to break away from the Panthers. Corydon scored the first five points of the game until the Braves evened things up. The Braves later went up 13-8 on Taylor Wischmeier's sixth point, but the Panthers scored the final four points to get within one.

Then in the second quarter, the lead switched seven times but Brownstown managed the 24-22 halftime lead.

"I just didn't think we were playing with much emotion, energy and confidence," Benter said of the first half. "We shot the ball really well and we come down and score and we were just trading baskets. The two things I went over at halftime were we've got to play with more energy on the defensive end and that will carry over to the offensive end, and then we've got to take better care of the basketball.

"(Corydon) had some quickness on the perimeter, and they were shooting through passing lanes a little bit. It took our guys a little time to adjust, but I thought the start of the first half that had something to do with it. I thought they did a pretty good job of defending us."

The third quarter ended up being BC's shining moment.

Wischmeier scored the Braves' first basket and Brian Baker answered to get the Panthers within two. But for the rest of the period, BC outscored Corydon 16-1 to take a 42-25 lead going into the fourth quarter. Wischmeier scored eight of his game-high 20 points in the third.

"Taylor got it going offensively in the second half and started scoring," Benter said of the 6-7 junior. "But the thing I really liked, he made about three or four really nice passes to lead the shots for our other guys. He's somebody that can demand a double-team for us, and I'd like to see more of that from him. He's somebody that can really get guys shots and he really did that, on top of him putting a lot of pressure on their defense by scoring so much."

The Panthers went on a 3-point frenzy in the final quarter, with Casey Saulman and Dylan Harl making two each, but the closest Corydon could ever get was 12. The Braves, who led by 20 at 2:46 after Michael Leitzman's lay-in, held off the Panthers' treys by making free throws down the stretch.

The key of the game, Benter said, was the third quarter.

"That's as well as we've probably played in a quarter all year," he said. "We took care of the basketball. We limited them to three points. I thought we rebounded pretty well. That energy is contagious, and all of a sudden, the whole complexion of the game changed and our guys started playing with a lot of energy. We started getting our confidence, started making some shots. We had a big contribution from several different guys."

Adding to Wischmeier's 20 points, Allman and Ayers each contributed 12 points, and Leitzman had 11.

For the Panthers, Saulman led with 15 points.

"It was a total team effort," Benter said. "Everybody that played contributed."

______________________________________

CROTHERSVILLE - Speed and size played to the Brownstown Central Braves' advantage on Thursday against Crothersville.

Speed was a factor in creating turnovers and getting loose balls, and size was a factor with Blaze Ayers and Taylor Wischmeier dominating the post. The Braves zoomed out to a 47-20 lead at halftime and created a 34-point margin twice in the third quarter, and BC won the Jackson County contest 72-48.

"We wanted to speed up the tempo, and we were able to do that in the first half," Braves coach Dave Benter said. "I thought our energy was really good in the first half. I thought our guys played hard. The only thing we didn't do really well was take care of the ball, but other than that, I thought we played exceptionally well in the first half."

Going into the game, Tigers coach Jim Stewart let his players know what they needed to do.

"We told the kids that the two things that would determine the game would be the number of turnovers we had and the number of second shots we gave them, because they are going hit some buckets. They are good shooters," Stewart said. "We had times that we did attempt to block out, but they were a lot bigger than us and we didn't block out far enough on the floor. I thought we played hard until the game was over. I didn't think there was any time we didn't try to take it to them, but we just didn't have it."

BC's pressure in the first quarter forced the Tigers into eight turnovers, and they finished the game with 21. When the Braves couldn't get the post to work, they shot out to the perimeter, where Wischmeier and Spencer Allman hit two 3s each and Jeff Turmail hit one.

Tim Steinbach launched a shot at the buzzer and connected, but his team trailed 26-11 after one.

In the second quarter, the Braves used three runs to widen the gap, outscoring the Tigers 21-9, and they led 47-20 at the break.

"I think we really had them frustrated," Benter said of the Tigers. "They really sagged in and really tried taking our two big guys away in their zone, and it opened up some things in the perimeter and we were able to hit some shots. We've got some guys that can really shoot the basketball. We need to make teams guard us inside and we did that."

Steinbach and Harley Hensley each received their third fouls in the second quarter, and the Tigers were without senior Cody Brasher, who was still out with an injury from last Friday's game at Henryville.

"With Cody being out, it hurts us because he's our leader verbally and we just don't have anyone to hold those young kids together," Stewart said. "It's going to be next Thursday before we even know what's wrong with (Brasher). We started three sophomores, and going against Brownstown with three sophomores just wasn't a good answer, but we didn't have any choice.
"We knew (Brownstown) would be bigger than us. I didn't think they would be quicker than us, but they were quicker to the ball. Anytime the ball got loose, they got to it first and the team that gets loose balls wins, and I think they got them all until the fourth quarter."

The Tigers shot 1-for-11 from the field in the third, and BC held on to the 62-28 lead after three. In the fourth quarter, the Tigers shot 7-for-15 and outscored BC 20-10, but the deficit was too large.

"We did some nice things in the second half, but I didn't think our energy was probably where it needed to be, especially on the defensive end," Benter said. "We gave them some second-chance points, which we can't be doing. But it's hard to play when you're up 30 at the half. At times, guys relax, and I told them at halftime that we can't do that. We did a little, but overall, to come in here and win by the margin we did, we're pretty satisfied.
"Our bench brought in some energy. We thought we could wear (the Tigers) down with their lack of depth, and I thought we were able to do that a little bit."

Wischmeier had a game-high 19 points, and he added eight rebounds for BC. Ayers and Allman each scored 11.

Ten of Hensley's 16 points came from the free-throw line, and Steinbach contributed nine points and eight rebounds for the Tigers.

"Last weekend, we played two good games," Stewart said. "We kind of reverted back (Thursday) and maybe we'll go back to last weekend on Saturday."

Crothersville (5-13) and Brownstown (12-4) both play afternoon games on Saturday. The Tigers will play host to Morton Memorial, and the Braves will travel to Austin for a Mid Southern Conference matchup.

"We'll get over it," Stewart said of Thursday's loss. "It was kind of embarrassing, but we'll survive."

BROWNSTOWN - Coach Dave Benter said one of the things he wrote on a blackboard in the Brownstown Central dressing room prior to the Braves' basketball game against Charlestown was: "Go inside out."

"We wanted to make them guard us inside and that would open up things for us outside," he said.

Brownstown's twin towers of 6-foot-7 Taylor Wischmeier and 6-6 Blaze Ayers combined for 53 points to spark Brownstown to a 76-51 win over Charlestown in a Mid Southern Conference game.

Both big men shot 11-for-17 from the floor, with Ayers going 4-for-6 at the line and Wischmeier 4-for-7 in three throws. One of Wischmeier's baskets was a 3-pointer, giving him 27 points to 26 for Ayers.

Benter said, "We didn't shoot the ball well all night from 3-point range (2-for-13), but our guys did a nice job of getting guys the ball in scoring position inside and in the short corner, and Blaze and Taylor were able to finish inside."

The Braves shot 32-for-61 from the floor and had 20 assists with Ryan Shoemaker handing out eight and Chris Hinton four.

Benter said he was pleased the way the Braves moved the ball against Charlestown's defense. "They played us zone most of the night and we moved the ball quick and got it in the short corner and to the high post pretty well, and Blaze and Taylor had a 4- or 5-inch height advantage. We were able to lob it over their defense some."

Brownstown scored the first four points of the game to lead all the way. Wischmeier scored 10 and Ayers seven points to lead the Braves to a 19-10 lead after one.

Both players added seven points each in the second, while Kelley Wagner scored two baskets inside as the Braves increased their lead to 41-28 at the half.

Wischmeier scored three baskets and Ayers two baskets, and they combined for 14 points in the third period when the Braves outscored the Pirates 21-16 to take a 62-44 lead into the fourth period.

The Pirates had 20 turnovers and shot 15-for-41 from the floor. "In the first half we gave them some open looks," Benter said. "Charlestown has some quickness and they did a nice job of getting the ball to their shooters. In the second half, we really wanted to focus and take their 3-point shooters away, and I thought our guys responded and did a pretty nice job of making (Chad) Brady and (Jordan) Williams put the ball on the floor.
"Blaze and Taylor are so long they cover up some holes inside. I thought for the most part we rebounded pretty well. That has been one of our strengths since the holiday tournament.
"That's got to stay in focus, and we've really got to keep attacking the glass. We lack some quickness and we've got to make up for that in other areas and rebounding is one area we can."

The Braves held a 33-28 advantage in rebounds with Wischmeier grabbing seven and Ayers six.

Brady topped the Pirates with 17 points and Williams added nine.

Benter said he felt like the Braves did a good job of bouncing back from the Paoli loss. "The guys were pretty upset Monday. The good thing about basketball, this time of year you get another chance. At sectional time, you don't get another chance. I think our guys were pretty focused tonight and ready to play."

The Braves, 11-4 overall and 5-1 in the MSC, will travel to Crothersville Thursday night and to Austin Saturday afternoon to make up an MSC game. Charlestown is 2-13 and 1-6.

 

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Wischmeier finishes with a career-high 35 points in loss

PAOLI - Thomas Springer may have only shot 3-for-11 from the field for Paoli in Saturday's game with Brownstown Central, but it was his final 3-pointer at the buzzer that counted most.

The Rams had the ball with 12.5 seconds remaining in the game. The Braves applied pressure, mainly focusing on Logan Laswell, and Laswell got the ball and dished it to Springer in the left corner. Springer then nailed a clutch trey to avoid overtime and  give the Rams a 61-58 win, halting BC's five-game winning streak.

"He had confidence in his teammates and great players do," Braves coach Dave Benter said of Laswell. "He made the right play. He passed to the open guy. We didn't want to give that good of a look. It was kind of a loose ball and we had two guys run at it.

"Give (Springer) credit, he hit a shot to beat us. We shouldn't have been in that situation. We were up five with three minutes to go, and we give up an open 3-pointer, we turn the ball over, we come down and we don't get anything."

Brownstown scored five straight to open the fourth quarter, but the Rams crept back in and tied the game twice in the final 2:25. Neither team scored in the final 1:47 until Springer's 3-pointer at the buzzer.

"We moved the ball well," Benter said of early in the fourth quarter. "Offensively, I thought we played well, but we had some late turnovers. We got the ball inside, we hit some shots in the second half. We just didn't guard as well as we needed to, but some of that had to do with Laswell also."

Laswell had 18 of his 28 points in the first half. For the Braves, junior Taylor Wischmeier stepped up big in the post when Blaze Ayers received his third foul in the second quarter and scored 22 in the first half.

The first quarter was tight until the Braves gained a 19-13 lead with a 3-pointer by Jeff Turmail at 47 seconds. But the Rams kicked in and scored the final five points of the quarter.

Laswell opened the second quarter with his third 3 of the game to take the lead, and the Braves regained their lead at 1:37 when Wischmeier converted a 3-point play. Laswell knocked down another trey before Wischmeier scored the last four points of the half, and Brownstown led 34-32 at halftime.

"With Ayers out, I thought (Wischmeier) did a nice job of getting inside and getting to the foul line, and then he kind of got it going with some perimeter shots and he played really well," Benter said. "Having Ayers out, he probably only played six or seven minutes in the game, and that really hurt us. He picked up some quick fouls, and that just absolutely killed us because we're a different team with him in the game."

The Braves maintained the lead in the third quarter until Laswell responded again for the Rams in the final minute to take a brief lead. But at 47 seconds, Wischmeier made a field goal to give BC the 45-44 edge going into the final period.

The game-changer came at 2:25 when Paoli's Brandon Jones stole the ball at midcourt and made a layup for his 16th point of the game to make it 56-all. The game was tied one more time before Springer connected at the end.

Wischmeier's 35 points was a career high, and he had nine rebounds.

"I thought our guys played hard," Benter said. "I didn't think we played smart at times late, but we had back-to-back games and it's not an easy place to come play and we put ourselves in the position to win and we just didn't do it."

The Braves (10-4) will play two Mid Southern Conference games this week, at home Tuesday with Charlestown and at Austin on Saturday, and they will play at Crothersville on Thursday. 

"We're not going to have much prep time," Benter said of games this week. "We've just got to stay fresh, stay focused and we've got to be ready to play every night. We can't come out and have a bad quarter, bad half, and we've got to play 12 good quarters of basketball this week."

 

Big second half boosts Braves over Generals

 

NASHVILLE - From the guard position to the post, every Brownstown Central player that stepped foot on the floor Friday night at Brown County contributed in a big way.

The Braves controlled the first quarter with a 15-0 run, but they were outscored in the second and third quarters before putting the game out of reach from the free-throw line for the 59-42 win over the Eagles. This was the Braves' fourth straight win.

"We had guys really step up, and our guards did a really nice job of distributing the basketball," Braves coach Dave Benter said. "I can't say enough about our starting guards and our guys off the bench. They got the ball where it needed to go, and I was just really happy with the way we played."

With a comfortable 17-3 lead after one quarter of play, the Braves left the Eagles in single digits until Ethan Baird made a bucket under the lane and was fouled for a 3-point play at 2:28 of the second. At that point, BC was ahead 28-11 but the Eagles scored four more before halftime.

"A lot of credit goes to them," Benter said of the Eagles. "They picked up the pressure and they hit a couple shots and we missed about three layups during that stretch and four free throws, and their quickness and pressure was causing some problems. They were just really sticking their head down and driving to the basket, and we didn't do a very good job of adjusting.
"Once we talked about it at halftime, we adjusted a little bit and did a better job of keeping the basketball out of the 15-, 16-foot area."

Blaze Ayers had 11 points in the first half, and Taylor Wischmeier had two 3-pointers and four free throws to lead the Braves, but Benter thought they were rushing their shots at times.

"We talked about shot faking and getting at angles where we can score and getting the basketball in certain positions where we can score and shot fake and get to the foul line," Benter said.

While the Eagles got within six with one of Bailey Howard's three 3-pointers in the third quarter at 5:55, the Braves got back up by 10 with Jeff Turmail's second trey of the game at 1:32 to make it 41-31. The Braves held a 12-point lead after three.

The Braves outscored the Eagles 14-9 in the final period and maintained a double-digit lead, and Wischmeier's free throws at 37 seconds closed out scoring for the game.

"Every time they made a run, we had guys step up and make big baskets," Benter said. "Jeff Turmail made a big basket. Taylor got to the foul line. Blaze got to the foul line a couple times in real crucial times. Spencer (Allman) made a big basket, too.

"I thought this was as well as everybody on one night played together for a long time, probably since before Christmas.
"Blaze really frustrated (the Eagles) and they got their big guys in foul trouble, and we were relentless and kept working. Our guys did a really nice job of attacking the basket and driving. Our guards did a really nice job of finding people and getting the ball where it needed to be. I was really pleased with how offensively we played."

Wischmeier produced a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds, while Ayers had 19 points and six rebounds. Ryan Shoemaker had a solid floor game with four points, seven rebounds, six assists and a steal.

For the Eagles, Howard had a game-high 22 points, and Kane Crabtree had 11. Those two had a combined five 3-pointers in the third quarter.

Brownstown Central improved to 9-3, and they will have three Mid Southern Conference games in the coming week, with the first one being Tuesday at Austin. The other two, against Charlestown and Corydon Central, are back-to-back home games next weekend.

The Braves join Silver Creek and Scottsburg at the top of the MSC with one loss each.

Box score

By ARV KOONTZ (The Tribune)

BROWNSTOWN - The Brownstown Central basketball team used strong defense and good rebounding to defeat Silver Creek 49-31 Friday night in a key Mid Southern Conference game.

The win was especially big for the Braves in the MSC race as Salem whipped Scottsburg 64-40. That leaves Brownstown, Silver Creek, Salem and Scottsburg all with one MSC loss.

Braves coach Dave Benter said he was especially pleased with BC's defense in the second half.

"We played outstanding defense at times," Benter said as he had his team play both zone and man. "In the first half, they just missed a couple of shots. In the second half, they didn't have many good looks.
"We did a much better job in the second half. I thought our guards really pressured and took driving angles away from their guards, and challenged some shots and blocked out, too.
"We didn't shoot the basketball very well, and to win by that margin I'm really happy."

Spencer Allman hit a 3-point shot and Taylor Wischmeier converted a 3-point play to put the Braves on top 6-0 at the 3:55 mark of the first period.

The Dragons missed their first eight shots from the floor before Cody Jackson hit a 3-pointer with three minutes left in the first period.

Brownstown led 8-5 at the end of the first period, and Michael Bradley hit a 3-pointer to draw the Dragons even at 8-8 early in the second quarter.

The Braves came back with an 11-0 run to build their lead to 19-8 following a 3-pointer by Jeff Turmail with 1:49 left in the half, and they were on top 21-12 at the intermission.

"I thought we played well in stretches in the first half, but not consistently," Benter said. "The thing I was probably most pleased with was our rebounding. I thought our posts did a really nice job rebounding. They've got a really nice rebounding team because they've got quickness in the perimeter and length and size inside."

The Braves held a 35-29 advantage on the boards as Blaze Ayers had 12 and Wischmeier eight.

Both teams started out cold in the third period before Wischmeier converted a 3-point play at 5:15 to increase the Braves' lead to 24-12.

Late in the quarter, Nick Townsend, the Dragons' 6-foot-7 center, got loose for a dunk that brought the Silver Creek fans to their feet and cut BC's lead to 31-23.

The Braves quickly got the ball inbounds and Wischmeier passed to Michael Leitzman for a layup, and the Braves regained their 10-point lead with 2.6 seconds left in the period.

"That was a huge play," Benter said of Leitzman's basket. "That could have been a real momentum-changer. Taylor came down and he could have forced a shot, but he recognized there was enough time to make an extra pass, and that extra pass got us the momentum back because Michael was able to score."

The Braves outscored the Dragons 28-19 in the second half. "After a timeout (late in the third period), I thought our intensity picked up. Until that point, I thought we stood around and expected Blaze to score on the inside. Townsend is a good post defender. He's averaging almost six blocks, and he had 12 rebounds.
"We got a couple of loose balls and we started attacking better and got to the free throw line."

Brownstown made 11 of 17 free throws for the game, while the Dragons did not attempt a free throw.

Wischmeier topped the Braves with 15 points and Allman added 13.

The Braves are 3-1 in the MSC and 8-3 overall, and will travel to Brown County Friday. Creek is 4-1 and 8-3.

Brownstown 8 13 12 16-49
S. Creek 5 7 11 8-31

Brownstown (8-3): Allman 5-8 0-0 13, Shoemaker 2-3 0-0 5, Leitzman 1-4 0-0 2, Wischmeier 4-14 7-8 15, Ayers 3-9 2-2 8, Turmail 1-4 1-2 4, Hinton 1-3 0-0 2, Wagner 0-0 0-0 0, Robison 0-0 0-0 0, Snodgrass 0-0 0-0 0, Olson 0-0 0-0 0, totals 17-42 11-17 49.

Silver Creek (8-3): Eckert 0-5 0-0 0, Bradley 2-9 0-0 6, Jackson 2-9 0-0 5, McCall 5-14 0-0 10, Townsend 2-6 0-0 6, Bonniville 1-1 0-0 3, Coats 0-1 0-0 0, Everage 0-0 0-0 0, Robinson 1-5 0-0 3, totals 13-50 0-0 31.

3-point goals: BC 4-13 (Allman 3, Turmail), SC 5-18 (Bradley 2, Jackson, Bonniville, Robinson); Rebounds: B 34 (Ayers 12, Wischmeier 8), SC 29 (Townsend 12, McCall 6); Turnovers: B 15, SC 12, Fouls: B 10, SC 15.

Junior varsity

Brownstown 6 9 6 10 6-37
Creek 6 5 7 13 5-36

Brownstown (5-3): Snodgrass 12, C. Allman 8, Woods 1, Wagner 6, Schuerman 3, Olson 6, Baker 1.

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By ZACH SPICER (The Tribune)

HANOVER - Early 3-pointers and late free throws saved the Brownstown Central Braves in Tuesday night's game at Southwestern (Hanover).

Leading 37-28 at halftime, the Braves maintained the lead the rest of the game. The Rebels did get within three late in the fourth quarter, but BC connected at the free throw line to win on the road 68-63.

"Southwestern just kept battling and battling," Braves coach Dave Benter said. "We'd get it to 10 or 12, they'd cut it down to six. We'd go back up to 13 or 14. They defended us awfully well. They were really physical with our guys."

A tight first quarter ended with BC leading 18-17. The Rebels opened the second quarter scoring five straight before the Braves wrestled back on a 5-0 run to tie the game at 23-all.

Spencer Allman hit his third 3-pointer of the game at 55 seconds of the second quarter and Kelley Wagner got a bucket under the basket 50 seconds later to close out first-half scoring.

"We got down 23-18, and I thought our effort the rest of the half from there on out was really tremendous," Benter said. "We went to a half-court trap and mixed that in with some three-quarter court some, and we were able to turn them over and that kind of got us going offensively a little bit.

"I thought our guys did a nice job of attacking the basket and getting the ball inside, and then we offensively rebounded pretty well in the second quarter. I thought our effort and energy level really increased and got where it needed to be."

In the third quarter, the Braves were up by 10 after another Allman trey, but the Rebels got within six points with a 3-pointer by Tanner Mahoney at 3:05. Allman nailed two more 3s, with the final one right before the buzzer, and BC had the 50-40 advantage.

With 39 seconds left in the game, the Rebels' Franklin Totten connected on a 3-pointer from the right corner and was fouled, and he made the free throw to get his team within four.

In desperation, the Rebels applied full-court pressure and sent the Braves to the free throw line. BC responded by making 6-for-6 clutch free throws in the final 35 seconds to hold off the Rebels.

"They shot the ball extremely well," Benter said of the Rebels. "They hit some tough shots late, too. I thought our effort was good. I didn't think we played really smart at times, but late when they started coming out and trapping us and really pressuring us, we've got to make them pay and get some layups and get some easy baskets. Instead, we had a couple turnovers, but our guys made some big free throws and we finally got a stop late to get us some separation."

"Our guys, in the last minute and a half, took care of the basketball and were able to finish out at the end from the free throw line. We forced them into some tough, contested shots and they made a couple, but we ended up going back to man there late and we were able to hold off once we did that."

Spencer Allman had his second straight game with 20-plus points. He shot 6-for-12 from 3-point land and scored 22 points on the night. Taylor Wischmeier contributed 17 points and six rebounds, and Blaze Ayers had 14 points and led game rebounders with nine. BC had the rebounding advantage 26-14.

Mahoney had a game-high 23 points and Caleb Jones had 11 points for the Rebels.

"We need some games like this to get us ready for the (sectional)," Benter said. "There's some teams in our sectional that are really physical. We're going to play some teams in the second half of the year that are really physical with us."

One such team is Silver Creek (8-2), and that's who the Braves (7-3) will face in their next game at home on Friday night. It will be a Mid Southern Conference matchup.

"We're going to have to start talking about Silver Creek, and we've got two days to prepare for them," Benter said. "They've got a really nice basketball team. We're on our home floor. These are the kind of games that as a high school player you really look forward to."


Brownstown 18 19 13 18-68
Southwestern 17 11 12 23-63

Brownstown (7-3): S. Allman 7-16 2-2 22, Shoemaker 1-4 0-0 2, Leitzman 2-8 0-0 5, Hinton 0-1 0-0 0, Ayers 6-9 2-4 14, Turmail 1-2 3-4 6, Wischmeier 4-11 8-9 17, Wagner 1-1 0-0 2, Robison 0-0 0-0 0, Snodgrass 0-0 0-0 0, totals 22-52 15-19 68.

Southwestern (3-8): Totten 4-8 3-4 8, Mahoney 9-15 3-3 23, Ames 3-11 1-3 7, Mabry 3-6 0-1 6, Jones 4-6 0-0 11, Taylor 0-0 2-4 2, Jenkins 1-1 0-0 2, totals 24-47 9-15 63.

3-point goals: BC 9-20 (S. Allman 6-12, Turmail 1-2, Leitzman 1-2, Wischmeier 1-3, Shoemaker 0-1), S 6-12 (Jones 3-5, Mahoney 2-4, Totten 1-3); Rebounds: BC 26 (Ayers 9, Wischmeier 6), S 14 (Ames 4, Jones 3); Turnovers: BC 14, S 14; Fouls: BC 15, S 18.

Junior varsity

Brownstown 12 16 9 9-46
Southwestern 8 5 17 7-37

Brownstown (4-3): Wagner 15, C. Allman 14, Woods 8, Olson 6, Baker 2, Snodgrass 1.

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Defeat Senators at home 70-52

By ZACH SPICER (The Tribune)

BROWNSTOWN - On Friday night, the Brownstown Central Braves were back in town.

For one, it was their first game on their home court since Dec. 5. And second, the team that began the season 4-1 was back and apparently had recovered from two losses at the holiday tourney at North Daviess.

From the second quarter on, it was all Brownstown as they defeated West Washington 70-52.

"I thought our intensity was really poor the last couple games," Braves coach Dave Benter said, "and we had a real physical, pretty intense couple days of practice this week, and I think our guys knew that they hadn't played well. But that sometimes gets you to start thinking and affects your confidence a little bit. That was my big concern coming into (Friday's game) was how confident we were going to be and if things were going to start to click or our guys were going to get frustrated, and that's what I really kept hammering."

The Braves led 9-8 after one, but in the second quarter, something clicked. Ryan Shoemaker had back-to-back drives in the lane and Spencer Allman later hit two 3-pointers, with the second one making it a 24-14 game, and three other Braves scored in the quarter.

Josh Green dished in three 3-pointers in the second for the Senators, with the final one falling within the final second of the half, but his team trailed 31-23 at the break.

"I thought we got going a little bit defensively, and that gave some guys some confidence," Benter said of the second quarter. "Ryan and Spencer were really active defensively in the second quarter, and that gave us some confidence. All of a sudden, they started putting some points on the board and creating for other guys."

Green scored first for the Senators in the third to get his team within six, and then Taylor Wischmeier made a field goal and two free throws. Chase Thompson got a field goal for the Senators before the Braves went on a 14-0 run, sparked by Allman nailing four 3-pointers. After three, it was 49-32.

"Against West Washington, they're going to be physical," Benter said. "You can't get frustrated, and our guys never did. Our guys kept battling and that was good to see. I thought we played really well in stretches."

The Senators got within 11 once and scored 20 points in the fourth quarter, but Wischmeier scored 10 and Allman had seven to lift BC to the win.

"We started going inside a little bit and they started collapsing a little bit, and then Spencer got going, and he can put points on the board in such a hurry," Benter said. "That really gave us a push, and our guys did a nice job of finding him. We really put some points on the board in a hurry, and that really gave us a push and we were able to finish it off on the defensive end.
"I thought our guard play was outstanding. They did a nice job of attacking and getting the ball up the court early so that we could score in transition at times."

Allman had a season-high 28 points, and Wischmeier finished with 20 points and led all rebounders with eight.

Of Allman, Benter said, "We know he can shoot the basketball, but he did a lot of other things (Friday), the little things, that's really going to help us and help him as a player."

After the game, Wischmeier said, "We definitely played a whole lot better than we did last week. We've been working on talking out there and intensity. We started to hit some shots and move the ball better, and we played defense. We just need to keep continuing to have good practices and keep up the intensity."

Benter was pleased with the team's 19 assists and only seven turnovers.

"(Shoemaker and Allman) had eight assists, Michael (Leitzman) had four and as a team we had 19 assists and seven turnovers," Benter said. "That's by far been the best all year."

Green led the Senators with 24 points, and Thompson had 13.

The Braves (6-3) will travel to Hanover on Tuesday night to play Southwestern (3-7).


West Wash. 8 15 9 20-52
Brownstown 9 22 18 21-70

Brownstown (6-3): Turmail 0-5 0-0 0, Leitzman 2-4 3-4 8, Wischmeier 5-16 10-10 20, Hinton 1-1 0-0 2, Ayers 2-3 0-0 4, S. Allman 10-18 2-3 28, Shoemaker 2-2 0-0 4, C. Allman 1-3 2-2 4, Robison 0-0 0-0 0, Snodgrass 0-0 0-0 0, Olson 0-0 0-0 0, totals 23-52 17-19 70.

West Washington (4-5): Thompson 4-10 5-7 13, McKinley 2-3 0-2 4, Chastain 0-3 1-3 1, Nice 0-5 0-1 0, Green 9-15 1-2 24, Guetig 1-2 0-0 2, Trueblood 1-3 0-0 2, Batt 2-4 2-4 6, totals 19-45 9-19 52.

3-point goals: BC 7-18 (S. Allman 6-12, Leitzman 1-1, Turmail 0-3, Wischmeier 0-2), WW 5-15 (Green 5-10, Nice 0-4, Thompson 0-1)
Rebounds: BC 22 (Wischmeier 8, Ayers 3, Shoemaker 3), WW 15 (Chastain 5, Batt 4); Turnovers: BC 7, WW 13; Fouls: BC 20 (fouled out: Hinton), WW 17.

Junior varsity

West Wash. 3 10 8 9-30
Brownstown 2 9 12 13-36

Brownstown (3-3): Snodgrass 15, C. Allman 9, Olson 7, Schuerman 3, Woods 2.

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By Troy Guthrie, T-H correspondent
Washington Times-Herald

ELNORA — The little man came up big Saturday night as Lucas Swartzentruber, North Daviess’ 5-9 senior point guard, turned in a giant effort in the final four minutes of the host Cougars’ 42-38 come-from-behind win over Brownstown Central in the third place game of the GPB Holiday Classic.

Swartzentruber scored seven of his team-high 12 points in the fourth quarter. Thomas Nugent had carried much of the scoring load in the first half with eight points. He finished with 10.

Taylor Wischmeier led the Braves with a game-high 14.

North Daviess coach Brent Dalrymple called the victory an example of how his team is much better when it plays more relaxed and confident.

“We told these kids that we had to quit being two teams,” he said. “We had been a team that missed almost every shot we took and let it affect us. Tonight, we just decided to say ‘so what’ if we missed a shot and stayed with what we wanted to get done.

“Until tonight, we had just run up and down the floor and shot the ball after two passes,” he added. “You have to be patient when you play good teams and we did a good job of that.”

The Cougars trailed 37-32 in the fourth quarter when Swartzentruber went to the basket and scored to begin an 8-1 run that capped off the game. A little over a minute later, North Daviess forward Logan Wagler’s pair of free throws pulled the Cougars within one at 37-36.

The senior forward then pulled down a missed Brownstown shot to give his team a chance to take the lead. That’s exactly what North Daviess did when Swartzentruber drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the key for a 39-37 advantage.

At that point, the Braves appeared to be playing not to lose instead of to win as the Cougars rattled Brownstown enough to claw past the Braves and take control.

“We just kept turning it up and turning it up,” Dalrymple said. “The defensive pressure definitely made a difference.”

After a Michael Leitzman free throw provided the Braves’ last point of the game — and only their sixth point since the 2:00 mark in the third quarter — the Cougars spread the floor and wound down the clock until Swartzentruber was fouled with 29 seconds left in the game. He calmly hit both free throws to up the lead to three.

Brownstown had a shot when Ryan Shoemaker got around his man for an open layup but the ball rolled off and Braves center Blaze Ayers fouled Wagler on the rebound. Wagler hit one from the stripe for the final score.

Wischmeier’s trey attempt was off the mark and Wagler hauled in yet another late rebound to allow the Cougars to run out the clock.

Dalrymple said it would have been ideal for his team to capture the crown in the tournament it hosts but a 2-1 record in an event with the GPB Holiday Classic’s level of competition is “a credit to our kids and how hard they played.”

Brownstown fell to 5-3 and will next play at home against West Washington on Friday, January 9th.

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By DENNIS DUNN (The Tribune)

MITCHELL - During this time of year, the old phrase is it's better to give than to receive.

On Saturday night, the Brownstown Central boys basketball team fit that description well as they gave their fans a good showing on the road, and in return, they received a standing ovation for their hard work.

The Braves finished off their weekend sweep with a 69-41 romp over the Mitchell Bluejackets. The Bluejackets began the season with six straight wins, but have lost two straight to Mid Southern Conference teams (Salem and BC).

BC gave coach Dave Benter a good Christmas gift by winning two games on back-to-back nights.

"It was really good for us to put together two back-to-back games," Benter said. "We shot the ball well both nights, rebounded well, and I thought our spacing and ball movement was good.

"Our guards did a good job of getting the ball where it needed to be, and we had guys who were able to finish. The thing I am the happiest with is our defense, and both nights we guarded more than halfway with our man-to-man. I thought we did a nice job of making the other team take shots."

The Braves took the Bluejackets out of the game early and often as Spencer Allman scored the first five points of the game before Mitchell's Dwayne Eubanks scored a layup. Blaze Ayers made it 7-2, but Eubanks answered.

With BC leading 9-6, Ayers sank two free throws and then hit a jump shot, and Ryan Shoemaker scored an easy bucket to make it 15-6. After a Mitchell timeout, Allman scored again. The Braves led by 12 points, but Eubanks made it a 20-11 contest with a 30-footer at the buzzer.

The Allman duo of Spencer and Cody got the Braves going in the second quarter and started a 7-0 run to give them the 27-11 lead.
The Bluejackets scored nine consecutive points on three straight 3-pointers to cut the second quarter on a 9-2 spurt to lead 39-22 at the break.

"I just can't say enough the way Cody played all weekend," Benter said. "He gave us a spark off the bench and was under control. He rebounded, he defended and he really gave us some good minutes this weekend."

The Braves hit six of their first seven shots in the first quarter and finished the first half 16 of 23 from the floor, while the Bluejackets shot 9 of 24.

It was all BC in the second half as they got the better of the Bluejackets 31-19. Ayers began the fourth quarter with a one-handed slam and Taylor Wischmeier followed him up with a dunk of his own 40 seconds later.

Coming into the game, Benter was concerned with Eubanks. "The big thing we didn't want to do was let Eubanks go crazy in transition. He did that a little bit in the first half, and then the next thing was trying to stop their big men inside on the backboard.

Eubanks got away from us a little in the first half, but in the second half, I thought we did a better job of containing him. We guarded their big guys well."

The Braves finished the game shooting 28-for-47, with 5-for-11 from the 3-point line, while the Bluejackets were 14-for-48. Spencer Allman shot 9 of 13 for 22 points. Wischmeier scored 18 and Ayers added 14.

Eubanks led the Bluejackets with 15 points, and Evan Sanders, who is averaging 12 points a game, was held to five. The Bluejackets, who are averaging 58.9 points a game, were held to a season-low of 41.

"Taylor played well," Benter said. "Taylor didn't shoot the basketball well in the first half, but I told him I was happiest with his defense. It really helps us when he can defend that well. This weekend was by far our best basketball of the year, and hopefully it's the step in the right direction."

The Braves' next game will be against Washington Catholic (1-4) in the first game of the Graber Post Building Classic at North Daviess on Dec. 30.

Box score

At Mitchell

Brownstown 20 18 13 18-69
Mitchell 11 11 10 9-41

BCHS (4-1): Wischmeier 7-14 2-3 18, Ayers 6-6 2-2 14, Shoemaker 1-1 0-0 2, S. Allman 9-13 0-1 22, Leitzman 1-3 1-2 3, Turmail 0-2 0-0 0, C. Allman 3-3 0-0 6, Olson 0-1 0-0 0, Wagner 1-4 1-2 3, totals 28-47 6-10 69

MHS (6-2): Phillips 3-7 2-2 10, Wintczak 2-5 3-5 7, Sanders 1-9 3-4 5, Eubanks 6-15 0-2 15, Guthrie 1-7 0-0 2, Embree 0-1 0-0 0, Morgan 0-1 0-0 0, Bales 1-1 0-0 2, Smith 0-1 0-0 0, Owens 0-1 0-0 0, totals 14-48 8-13 41

3-point goals: BCHS 5-11 (Wischmeier 1-4, S. Allman 4-6, Turmail 0-1), MHS 5-15 (Phillips 2-6, Sanders 0-1, Eubanks 3-5, Guthrie 0-1, Embree 0-1, Smith 0-1)

Rebounds: BCHS 30 (Wischmeier 7, Ayers 6, Shoemaker 5), MHS 16 (Eubanks 4, Bales 3, Sanders 3); Turnovers: BCHS 17, MHS 14; Fouls: BCHS 16, MHS 14

Junior varsity

Brownstown 8 7 14 8-37
Mitchell 10 4 8 12-34

BCHS (2-3): Wagner 10, Olson 7, Schuerman 7, DeHart 3, Woods 2, Toppe 2, Baker 2, C. Allman 2, Snodgrass 2

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Brownstown Central falls; will vie for 3rd place tonight

By ZACH SPICER (The Tribune)

ELNORA - Falling behind early and turning the ball over late in Friday night's Graber Post Buildings Holiday Classic tournament game proved to be costly for the Brownstown Central Braves.

The Class 1A No. 4 Barr-Reeve Vikings used a 12-0 surge at the end of the first quarter to lead 23-14 after one, and they went on a 7-0 run in the second. The Braves struggled to get back in the game, and lost in the semifinal round 65-52.

"They played exceptionally well and they took us out of a lot of things," Braves coach Dave Benter said of Barr-Reeve. "They played as well as I've seen them play this year. Part of that was probably our lack of intensity. I thought we came out really unfocused."

The Vikings seemed to have an answer for every shot the Braves made in the game. That was the case in the opening quarter. Spencer Allman made a 3-pointer at 3:01 and Taylor Wischmeier added a field goal two minutes later to make it 15-11, but the Vikings then scored 12 straight, with all five of their starters contributing baskets in the first.

Barr-Reeve shot 8-for-11 in the second quarter, with Luke Harmon scoring nine, but BC was 4-for-12 and fell behind 43-29 at the half.

"You're not going to win many games giving up 43 points in a half, especially the way they defended," Benter said. "The things we've worked on the last couple of days (in practice) I didn't think we executed well at all. I just thought their guards were a lot quicker to the basketball than what all of our guys were. They had role players step up and play really well for them and get some shots."

The Braves only had four rebounds in the first half and ended the game with 19.

"We had been outrebounding our opponents by about 11 rebounds a game, and we got outrebounded (Friday)," Benter said, as the Vikings had 20. "That's lack of effort, lack of fundamentals, and that really disappoints me."

Brownstown tried to make a move in the third quarter as they scored 12 and limited Barr-Reeve to five. Ryan Shoemaker drawing the foul in the lane and sinking two free throws got the Braves within seven, drawing up some hope late in the game.

"I thought we played hard in the third quarter," Benter said. "We cut it from 14 to seven. I thought we defended pretty well."

The Braves held the Vikings to only seven points in the final period, but they couldn't get any closer than nine the rest of the game.

"I told them at the half that we need to cut it to six or seven by the end of the third quarter and we did that," Benter said. "We got the ball to start the fourth and we dropped the ball out of bounds in the first possession, and that was just demoralizing. We just fell apart in the fourth quarter. We started turning the basketball over. I think we turned the ball over three out of the first four possessions in the fourth quarter."

The Braves managed to have three players in double figures. Spencer Allman's 15 points came from 3-point land. Wischmeier had 13 points, and Blaze Ayers had 10 points and eight rebounds.

For the Vikings, Kendall Murphy led all scorers in the game with 17. Ethan Knepp was next with 15, and Trey Hughes put up 12.

"A lot of credit goes to Barr-Reeve," Benter said. "They've got a really nice basketball team. Their guards are exceptional, and they've got other guys that filled their roles and understand how to play, too."

"We didn't lead the basketball at all. We just passed to the wing instead. It reminded me a little bit of the Scottsburg game (Dec. 12) where we just kind of stood around the perimeter and didn't reverse the ball, didn't attack the basket, didn't move the ball. We started to do that in the third quarter some (on Friday), but they put so much pressure on how good their guards are, and we just didn't handle that very well.
I didn't think our energy was very good. We've just got to play with some energy. I'm just really disappointed we didn't execute our game plan like I thought we would."

The Braves will battle North Daviess for third place at 6 p.m. today. The Cougars are 5-4 after losing to South Knox on Friday. Barr-Reeve (7-1) advances to the championship game at 7:30 p.m. today to play 6-1 South Knox.

"I think (North Daviess was) ranked in the top five preseason in (Class) 1A, and I just talked to their coach and they were really disappointed with how they played," Benter said. "Either both teams are going to feel sorry and not play (tonight) or we're going to come out and refocus and try to put this loss behind us. That's what we'll have to do."


Brownstown 14 15 12 11-52
Barr-Reeve 23 20 5 7-65

Brownstown (5-2): S. Allman 5-7 0-0 15, Shoemaker 2-8 3-6 7, Leitzman 1-4 0-0 2, Wischmeier 4-13 5-5 13, Ayers 2-10 6-7 10, Turmail 1-2 0-0 3, Robison 0-1 0-0 0, Schuerman 0-0 0-0 0, C. Allman 0-0 0-0 0, Olson 0-0 0-0 0, Hinton 0-0 0-0 0, Wagner 1-1 0-1 2, totals 16-46 14-19 52.

Barr-Reeve (7-1): E. Knepp 6-13 2-3 15, Murphy 6-10 3-4 17, Hughes 4-12 4-4 12, Duncheon 2-3 3-6 7, L. Knepp 1-5 3-3 5, Harmon 4-4 0-0 9, totals 23-47 15-20 65.

3-point goals: BC 6-20 (S. Allman 5-7, Turmail 1-2, Shoemaker 0-1, Leitzman 0-2, Wischmeier 0-7, Ayers 0-1), BR 4-16 (Murphy 2-5, E. Knepp 1-6, Harmon 1-1, Hughes 0-4).
Rebounds: BC 19 (Ayers 8, Leitzman 4), BR 20 (Murphy 5, Hughes 4); Turnovers: BC 20, BR 10; Fouls: BC 16, BR 17.

Friday scores from the tournament:

Consolation Round

Eastern (Greene) 50, Cloverdale 38
Southwestern (Hanover) 65, Washington Catholic 50

Semi-finals

South Knox 63, North Daviess 41
Barr-Reeve 65, Brownstown Central 52


Today's schedule

3 p.m. - Cloverdale vs. Washington Catholic (seventh place)

4:30 p.m. - Eastern (Greene) vs. Southwestern (Hanover) (fifth place)

6 p.m. - Brownstown Central vs. North Daviess (third place)

7:30 p.m. - South Knox vs. Barr-Reeve (championship)

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Brownstown places 4th in tournament

By ZACH SPICER (The Tribune)

ELNORA - The Brownstown Central Braves tallied their lowest scoring of the season to drop their final game Saturday night in the Graber Post Buildings Classic.

The host team, North Daviess, had the 11-10 lead after one before Brownstown gained the lead within the final three minutes of the half. The Braves led the entire second half until the Cougars' Lucas Swartzentruber sank a 3-pointer from the top of the key at 1:26 in the fourth, and BC couldn't recover. The Cougars picked up third place out of eight teams with the 42-38 win.

"We didn't take care of the ball, and we couldn't get into scoring position," Braves coach Dave Benter said after BC's second straight loss. "We moved the ball too slow. We played with no energy, and it's just really frustrating.

"I didn't think we played with any emotion. We don't have any guys talking on the floor. It's just really disappointing to go from playing as well as we were right before (Christmas) break to as poorly as we did these last two games. We had trouble stopping people. It's just our energy level, our ability to adjust when teams change their defenses. I felt we had nobody play up to their capabilities."

Five first-quarter turnovers for the Braves disrupted the offense, and the Cougars held the lead after one. BC regained the lead in the second quarter with Taylor Wischmeier's 3-pointer at 2:57.

The teams went back and forth, each making a trey and field goal before the half, and BC led 24-23 at the break.


"We wanted to step it up, but we're so out of sync offensively and defensively right now," Benter said. "We've got to have five guys that can defend, and really, I felt we did that a couple of games before Christmas."

The Cougars and Braves combined for 3-for-24 in the third period, but BC held onto the 32-29 advantage.

BC maintained the lead through the final period until Swartzentruber scored seven, and North Daviess made 6 of 8 free throws to come back and win.

Wischmeier finished with a game-high 14 points and Spencer Allman had nine for BC.

Swartzentruber had 12 for the Cougars.

"North Daviess is really frustrated now with the way they've been playing," Benter said, "and I don't think we got their best game. We're still just going through the motions. We've got to get some leadership on this team and have some guys talking. We just don't have that right now. Communication can solve so many things in the game of basketball, and I'm going to have to find five guys that are willing to communicate."

While it was good to get some games in during the holiday break, Benter hopes his team learns from the losses.

"I hope it shows some of our guys some weaknesses in their game and things we've got to shore up as individuals and as a team to be able to get where I think this team could get to by the end of the year," he said. "We just need to get our confidence back. Our guys played with no confidence. I think it's more mental than anything.

"We thought it was a good thing to have a game so quickly to get (Friday night's loss to Barr-Reeve) out of our heads, but maybe it wasn't. Maybe we needed time to go back and watch the film and reflect and get some things corrected, and fortunately, now we'll have a week to do that."

The Braves (5-3) will return home Friday for the first time since Dec. 5 to take on West Washington.

South Knox won the tournament on Saturday night by defeating Barr-Reeve 61-58 in a double-overtime contest.


North Daviess 11 12 6 13-42
Brownstown 10 14 8 6-38

Brownstown (5-3): S. Allman 3-9 0-0 9, Shoemaker 0-2 1-2 1, Leitzman 0-3 3-4 3, Wischmeier 6-15 0-1 14, Ayers 0-3 2-2 2, Turmail 2-4 0-0 5, Wagner 2-2 0-0 4, C. Allman 0-2 0-0 0, totals 13-40 6-9 38.

North Daviess (6-4): L. Swartzentruber 3-6 5-6 12, Nugent 3-13 2-2 10, Graber 2-6 2-4 6, Wagler 1-7 5-6 7, Miller 2-5 0-0 4, Wittmer 1-2 1-1 3, totals 12-39 15-19 42.

3-point goals: BC 6-20 (S. Allman 3-8, Wischmeier 2-8, Turmail 1-2, Leitzman 0-1, C. Allman 0-1), ND 3-10 (Nugent 2-4, L. Swartzentruber 1-1, Wittmer 0-1, Graber 0-1, Wagler 0-3).

Rebounds: BC 18 (Ayers 8), ND 20 (Wagler 5, Miller 4, Nugent 4); Turnovers: BC 14, ND 6; Fouls: BC 14, ND 9.

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Brownstown Central hands Mitchell 69-41 loss at Hive

By Bill Keane (bill@tmnews.com)

MITCHELL — Through seven games this season, the Mitchell Bluejackets had hit the floor running and they played with confidence, coming away with a 6-1 record.

The Brownstown Central Braves put an end to all that Saturday night at The Hive, taking the Jackets out of their game early and cruising to a 69-41 victory.

After playing seven games in 15 days to start the season, the Jackets had a week off before meeting the Braves, and they looked a bit rusty at the start. But they never recovered as the Braves used a solid inside-outside game to hand the home team a disappointing defeat.

“We went on Christmas break a day early,” Mitchell assistant coach Joe Sibbitt said. “It was a lot Brownstown, they’ve got a nice team, and they’re not going to beat themselves, and anytime you’ve got a nice inside-outside combination like they’ve got, you’re going to have a nice team, and they do. But I really thought we were past this. This was embarrassing, and we’re a lot better than that.”

The Braves were anything but rusty at the start. Coming off a 70-45 win over North Harrison Friday, the Braves hit seven of their first eight shots to build an early double-digit lead. Sophomore Spencer Allman scored on the fastbreak to start the game, then popped out for a 3-pointer to make it 5-0 before the Jackets could muster any offense of their own.

Allman went on to score 20 points in the first half as the Braves hit 15 of 23 shots from the field.

“This weekend was by far the best we’ve played,” Brownstown coach Dave Benter said. “It’s the first time we’ve really shot the ball well, but the thing I was happiest with was, I thought we defended pretty well all night. I thought we took some things away in their inside game, and in the second half, I thought we were able to get Eubanks under control in transition.

“Those were two things that really keyed their 6-1 start, so we really wanted to try and take those things away, and overall, I was pretty happy with it.”

Senior Dwayne Eubanks got the Jackets going with a pair of drives to the basket and David Wintczak scored down low to keep Mitchell in it early, but with twin towers Taylor Wischmeier (6-7) and Blaze Ayers (6-6) patrolling the inside and Allman sniping from long range, the Braves moved out to a 12-point lead before Eubanks knocked down a 30-footer at the buzzer to make it 20-11 at the first break.

After hitting just 5 of 15 shots from the floor in the first quarter, the Jackets warmed up a bit in the second (4-9), but seven turnovers, combined with a beating on the boards by the Braves, enabled the visitors to run out to a 16-point halftime lead.

Allman keyed the attack with 8-for-10 shooting, while Ayers was 3 for 3.

“When you let them get off to a good start like that and players make their first couple of shots, they get in a comfort zone and they’re going to be there all night,” Sibbitt said. “We never could turn up the heat. We did a little bit there at the start of the third quarter, but we had a couple of turnovers and they scored and got it back to 15 and that was pretty much it.”

Eubanks drove to the basket for two and Taylor Phillips followed with a 3-pointer early in the third quarter, but a three-point play by Wischmeier and a 3-pointer by the Brownstown big man got the Braves back on track before back-to-back dunks by Wischmeier and Ayers early in the fourth helped put an exclamation point on the proceedings.

The two big men combined to score 32 points and pull down 15 rebounds for the Braves, who outrebounded the Jackets 37-18.

“When you get off to a good start like we did this season, you’re going to get everybody’s best shot,” Sibbitt said. “So you’ve got to be ready to go and we just didn’t show up tonight.

“Those first six games are over and we’ve got to come back after the break and get back to playing the way we were earlier in the season. So hopefully this will be a wake-up call for us.”

Eubanks finished with 15 points to lead the Jackets, while Phillips added 10 and Wintczak chipped in with seven points and four rebounds.

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Brownstown recovers with win over Cougars

By ZACH SPICER (The Tribune)

RAMSEY - After a disappointing four-point Mid Southern Conference loss at Scottsburg last Friday, the Brownstown Central Braves bounced back well by defeating North Harrison in an MSC road game on Friday.

Scottsburg shut down the Braves' outside shot last week and made it difficult for the Braves to move around in the post. Against the Cougars, however, the Braves moved around more easily and won 70-45.

Taylor Wischmeier put up a season-high 29 points for BC, and he had 10 rebounds and three steals. Eighteen of his points game from 3-point land.

"We knew he was going to break out with some shots," Braves coach Dave Benter said of Wischmeier. "Hopefully, he can continue that now and keep shooting the ball as well as he did (Friday). I thought he played awfully well."

The Braves jumped out to a 10-0 run in the first quarter until North Harrison's TJ Sanders made a field goal. But the Cougars only made one more field goal in the quarter, and BC led 16-6 after one.

Five Braves scored in the second quarter. Michael Leitzman had six and Wischmeier had a 3-pointer and two field goals to put the Braves ahead 35-15 at halftime. The Braves shot 12-for-26 in the first half to the Cougars' 6-for-22.

After halftime, the Braves continued their streak and Spencer Allman's trey at 3:49 in the third put his team up 54-20. He had 10 of his 14 points in the quarter. Wischmeier nailed two more 3s in the third as the Braves outscored the Cougars 23-11.

Wischmeier, Allman and Blaze Ayers scored the Braves' 12 fourth-quarter points. The Cougars put up 19 in the quarter, but the Braves held onto their lead until the end.

"We knew they were going to come out, and they are a very physical team," Benter said of North Harrison. "We knew the first three minutes were going to be crucial in the second half. I thought our guys came out pretty focused after halftime. I thought we defended well the first six minutes of the third quarter, and we really did not give their team a chance to get back in.

"The ball movement was better (than the Scottsburg game). I thought our shot selection was a little bit better. We were able to get the ball inside a little bit more, especially in the second half, and that really opened up some three-point shots, too. There were three-point shots we finally broke through and started making them, and we hadn't been making them all year."

After Wischmeier's 29, Spencer Allman was next with 14 points. Leitzman had nine, and Ayers finished with eight points and five rebounds.

Allman had 25 points in the first game of the season, but was limited to single digits in the last two games.

"It was good to see him attacking the basket again," Benter said of Allman. "The last two games he's just stood around the perimeter. Tonight, I thought he did a nice job attacking and not just floating around the perimeter. He's got to be able to do that to be a complete player."

The Braves shot 52 percent from the field, compared to the Cougars' 34 percent. BC also outrebounded North Harrison 37-25.

"I thought we rebounded exceptionally well," Benter said. "I wasn't very happy with some of our guys' rebounding (in the first three games of the season). Taylor was the only guy that I thought had rebounded consistently for us all year. We had some other guys step up (Friday) and as a team we rebounded much better. A lot of it has to do with effort.

"What we really talked about this week in practice was about how we've got to be an inside-outside team. We've got really good three-point shooters, but we've also got a 6-7, 6-6 kid that we need to get the basketball to inside. They are difficult to match up with and they can step out on the perimeter, but then you've got to guard them inside, too."

Zach Anderson led the Cougars with nine points, and Maverick Becht had eight.

Brownstown (3-1 overall, 2-1 in MSC) will be back on the road tonight at Mitchell for a non-conference game.


At Ramsey

Brownstown 16 19 23 12-70
North Harrison 6 9 11 19-45

Brownstown (3-1, 2-1): Turmail 0-5 0-0 0, S. Allman 5-11 2-2 14, Robison 1-2 0-0 2, Shoemaker 2-2 0-1 4, Snodgrass 0-0 0-0 0, Leitzman 3-3 3-4 9, C. Allman 1-1 0-0 2, Wischmeier 10-16 3-3 29, Olson 0-1 0-1 0, Ayers 3-7 2-2 8, Wagner 0-0 2-3 2, totals 25-48 12-16 70.

North Harrison (1-4, 1-2): Dooley 0-2 0-0 0, Anderson 3-3 2-2 9, Janes 0-0 0-0 0, Southard 1-4 2-3 4, W. Jones 1-3 0-1 2, Nowak 0-0 0-0 0, Lincoln 0-1 0-0 0, Smith 0-0 0-0 0, L. Jones 2-4 0-0 4, Richards 2-4 1-3 5, Book 0-0 1-2 1, Becht 3-7 2-6 8, Sanders 2-9 2-4 6, Eveslage 1-4 4-4 6, Edwards 0-3 0-0 0, totals 15-44 14-25 45.

3-point goals: BC 8-16 (Wischmeier 6-8, S. Allman 2-5, Turmail 0-3), NH 1-7 (Anderson 1-1, Dooley 0-1, Southard 0-2, Lincoln 0-1, Becht 0-1, Sanders 0-1); Rebounds: BC 37 (Wischmeier 10, Shoemaker 7, Ayers 5), NH 25 (L. Jones 4, W. Jones 3); Assists: BC 15 (Leitzman 5, Shoemaker 3), NH 3 (Southard 2, Edwards 1); Blocks: BC 2 (Wischmeier, Ayers), NH 0; Steals: BC 6 (Wischmeier 3, S. Allman, Leitzman, Ayers), NH 7 (Southard 2, Becht 2, Eveslage 2, Sanders); Turnovers: BC 17, NH 11; Fouls: BC 21 (fouled out: Leitzman), NH 19

Junior varsity

Brownstown 15 11 13 10-49
North Harrison 7 14 9 7-37

Brownstown (1-3): Snodgrass 9, Schuerman 4, Olson 6, Wagner 16, C. Allman 14.

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Will faced 1A ranked Barr-Reeve on Friday

By ARV KOONTZ (The Tribune)

ELNORA - Coach Dave Benter was hoping his Brownstown Central basketball team could get off to a fast start in Tuesday's game against Washington Catholic in the Graber Post Buildings Holiday Classic at North Daviess High School.

The Braves did exactly that as they scored the first 12 points of the game, led 24-5 after the first quarter and rolled to a 68-31 win.

"In the first half I thought we moved the ball quickly," Benter said. "I thought our energy was good to start the game. We pushed the ball and got some easy baskets, and we rebounded well the whole game.

"Two of the keys I wrote on the board before the game were rebounds and transition, and those are two of the things I thought we did really well."

When center Blaze Ayers banked in a left-handed hook shot over Catholic's Harrison Holmes at the 5:36 mark the Braves held a 9-0 lead. Jeff Turmail hit a 3-pointer on BC's next possession for a 12-0 cushion and the rout was on.

Austin Jarrett finally scored for the Cardinals at the 3:36 mark, but the Braves outscored the Cardinals 13-2 the remainder of the quarter. Turmail, Spencer Allman and Stuart Robison all hit 3-pointers for BC in the first quarter as the Braves shot 10-for-15 from the floor, and held Catholic to 2-for-15 shooting.

Brownstown kept the pressure on in the second quarter as Taylor Wischmeier and Ayers scored two field goals each as the Braves increased their lead to 39-10 at the half.

Wischmeier added three baskets in the third period, while Allman and Ayers both added two baskets as the Braves increased their lead to 60-22 going into the final period.

Ten of the 11 players that saw playing time for the Braves got into the scoring column.

Benter said, "I thought we got sloppy with the basketball at times. We've got to take better care of the basketball. We had (17) turnovers. Once we built up the lead there were a few times we didn't communicate in transition on defense."

Ayers and Wischmeier topped the Braves with 13 points each and Michael Leitzman scored 11.

Benter had the Braves play man-to-man defense through the first three periods before switching to a 2-3 zone in the fourth. The Cardinals had 14 turnovers.

Catholic started only one senior, and Benter said, "They've got some young kids playing, and to their credit they really battled and played hard for 32 minutes. They caused us some problems in the fourth quarter from their pressure. Give them credited because a lot of teams don't play with that pressure when they have that big of a deficit."

Jarrett topped the Cardinals in scoring with 16 points.

Benter said he felt like the Braves did a good job of taking advantage of size by outrebounding the Cardinals 45-18. Wischmeier had 10 and Ayers 9 rebounds.

"Our size and length affected them and really hurt them in the backcourt," the coach said. "We shot the ball really well in the first half and we were able to get some stops and defensive rebounds, and we were able to turn that into some early offense by pushing the ball."

The Braves have won three straight to push their record to 5-1, while the Cardinals fell to 1-6.

Brownstown will play Barr-Reeve at 7:30 p.m. Friday. B-R is 6-1 following a 53-26 win over Southwestern Hanover Tuesday night.
Benter said the Braves will need their best effort of the season. "They are a really good basketball team. They've got two scholarship guards, and they've got a 6-3 kid that just became eligible.

"We're going to have to play one of the best, if not the best game, we've played this year."

Brownstown 24 15 21 8-68
Washington 5 5 12 9-31

BC (5-1)- S. Allman 3-9 0-1 7, Shoemaker 1-4 1-2 3, Leitzman 4-6 3-3 11, Wischmeier 6-11 0-0 13, Ayers 6-7 1-2 13, Turmail 2-4 0-0 6, C. Allman 2-4 0-0 4, Robison 2-4 0-0 5, Wagner 1-1 2-3 4, Olson 1-2 0-0 2, Schuerman 0-1 0-0 0, totals 28-53 7-11 68.

WC (0-5)- Holmes 0-4 0-2 0, Jarrett 4-8 8-8 16, Deem 1-6 0-0 2, Stuart 1-12 0-2 2, Costello 2-15 3-6 7, Mitchell 0-2 1-2 1, Joyce 1-1 1-1 3, totals 9-48 13-21 31.

3-point goals: BC-Turmail 2, S. Allman 1, Robison 1, Wischmeier 1; rebounds: BC 44 (Wischmeier 10, Ayers 9), WC 17 (Jarrett 5), turnovers: BC 17, WC 14; fouls: BC 15, WC 9.

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By ZACH SPICER (The Tribune)

SCOTTSBURG - Blaze Ayers' dunk midway through the fourth quarter of Friday night's Mid Southern Conference game at Scottsburg got Brownstown Central fans on their feet.

BC had the two-point lead after that, but when Scottsburg freshman Max Clemons nailed a 3-pointer in the left corner to give the Warriors a 45-44 lead, the Braves were only able to tie the game one more time before Scottsburg led the rest of the way and won 56-52.

The game was tight throughout the night, but Braves coach Dave Benter said the Warriors did two big things that worked in their favor.

"First of all, offensively in the first half, they really stacked in on Blaze and made us become just a perimeter-oriented team," Benter said. "I called timeout and I really told the guys I did not want to shoot a three until we went into Blaze. We went over the same thing at halftime."

Benter thought the Warriors covered Ayers well in the first half, but in the second half, he said, "I thought there were several times we really could have gotten the ball inside, either by dribble penetration or on the pass to Blaze, and we just didn't do it."

Secondly, Benter said, "We've got to be able to put five guys on the floor that can guard some man-to-man, and not let other teams dictate the flow and pace of the game."

Scottsburg led 16-15 after the first quarter, and Taylor Wischmeier started well for the Braves, scoring 8 of his 20 points on the night.

The Warriors applied man-to-man defense to hold back the Braves and went on a 5-0 run in the second quarter, but two 3s by Wischmeier and one by Michael Leitzman got the Braves back in the game. BC outscored Scottsburg 12-9 in the second quarter to hold onto a 27-25 at the half.

"Our half-court trap worked against Seymour," Benter said. But at Scottsburg, "I didn't think we played with the same energy in our half-court traps. I thought we could have had about an eight-point lead at halftime if we would have rebounded better. We gave them three second-chance opportunities, and you just can't do that against teams like that. If we got those, then we may have had a big enough lead at the end that we could have pulled them out of their zone and pulled them out of sagging man-to-man, and we just didn't do it."

The lead went back and forth between the Warriors and Braves in the third quarter, with BC gaining a four-point advantage after Wischmeier's offensive rebound, put-back and free throw at 3:17. But Scottsburg's Matt Bridgewater put up four crucial points in the latter part of the quarter, and Mason Gregory's shot at the buzzer went in to make it 42-all.

Bridgewater carried the Warriors again in the fourth quarter, scoring nine more points, with one of the field goals giving his team a five-point advantage with 2:10 remaining.

Wischmeier's trey with 36 seconds left in the game made it 54-50, but Gregory's two free throws at 13 seconds was enough for his team to hold on.

Benter said the Braves' shooting hasn't been consistent in each of its three games this season.

"For as good as I thought we were going to be able to shoot the basketball, we're really struggling to put the basketball in the hole right now," he said. "We shot 35 percent against Salem, we shot 28 percent against Seymour and then we shot 34 percent (Friday).

The only thing we've shot well to this point is free throws.

"Once our guys start making some shots, that is going to open up the middle more, but on the other hand, we've got to do a better job of recognizing the middle is open. We had a lot of good looks, I thought. (Scottsburg) did a nice job of forcing us into a perimeter team, and if we had been shooting the ball well, it would be a completely different story.

Wischmeier led all scorers in the game with 20, and he had 12 rebounds. Ayers put up 9 and Shoemaker had 8.

The Warriors had three players in double figures. Bridgewater finished with 16, Gregory had 12 and AJ Humes had 10.

Benter said the Braves had the upper hand in this game, but just didn't apply it like they should have. Also, he said the Braves had trouble with the Warriors' quickness.

"I'm really disappointed that we have got upperclassmen that are still having trouble guarding people," he said. "We were the more experienced team (Friday). We had a lot more guys back on varsity than they had. They had young guys that stepped up and played, and they were very well prepared. We've got to make some shots, get the ball inside better and we've got to become a lot better in the half-court defense."

Friday's game makes the Braves 2-1 overall and 1-1 in the MSC. Scottsburg is 4-0, with all of them being MSC wins.

The Braves will be back in conference play Friday at North Harrison, before playing at Mitchell the following night in a non-conference game.


At Scottsburg

Brownstown 15 12 15 10-52
Scottsburg 16 9 17 14-56

Brownstown (2-1): Turmail 1-5 0-0 3, S. Allman 2-9 0-0 6, Shoemaker 4-7 0-0 8, Leitzman 1-4 00-0 3, Wischmeier 7-18 3-3 20, Hinton 1-2 1-2 3, Ayers 2-8 5-6 9, totals 18-53 9-11 52.

Scottsburg (4-0): Boswell 3-6 1-1 9, Bridgewater 6-9 4-6 16, Patton 0-1 0-0 0, Humes 4-11 1-2 10, Gregory 5-12 2-2 12, Myers 1-2 0-0 3, Clemons 1-2 0-0 3, Bowling 1-2 0-0 2, Everett 0-1 0-0 0, totals 21-46 10-13 56.
3-point goals: BC 7-24 (Wischmeier 3-10, S. Allman 2-5, Turmail 1-4, Leitzman 1-3), S 4-17 (Boswell 2-5, Humes 1-5, Gregory 0-4, Clemons 1-2)
Rebounds: BC 34 (Wischmeier 12, Shoemaker 5), S 28 (Humes 6, Bridgewater 4)
Assists: BC 11 (Shoemaker 7), S 6 (Humes 3)
Steals: BC 3, S 3
Blocks: BC 1 (Ayers), S 0
Turnovers: BC 6, S 7
Fouls: BC 14, S 12


Junior varsity

Brownstown 12 8 5 9-34
Scottsburg 9 11 11 12-43

Brownstown (0-3): Schuerman 11, Wagner 8, Woods 5, Olson 4, Toppe 3, Snodgrass 3.

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By ZACH SPICER (the Tribune)

BROWNSTOWN - The outcome of Friday night's Seymour-Brownstown Central game is the reason fans like going to high school basketball games.

While the first half was a little sluggish, BC stormed out in the second half and tied the game several times in the final quarter.

The game was tied at 57 with a few seconds remaining, but Seymour failed to connect at the buzzer, carrying the game into overtime.

Each team scored six points in the first overtime, so a second was in order. That's when BC scored five points, to Seymour's zero, and got the win at home, 68-63.

With two key players, Blaze Ayers and Chris Hinton, fouled out of the game at the end of regulation, the game was mainly up to Brownstown's guards.

In the first overtime, Jeff Turmail nailed a 3-pointer and Ryan Shoemaker and Michael Leitzman made crucial free throws for the Braves, and Seymour's Jordan Kiel and Matt Trimnell made 3s to even the score.

After Seymour drained two and a half minutes off the clock in the second overtime, BC fouled and Seymour missed both of the free throws.

Leitzman then drove in the lane with 1:20 remaining to gave the Braves a 65-63 lead. The Owls couldn't get one to sink in, and Turmail and Leitzman made three more free throws to get the win.

Braves coach Dave Benter said after the game that his team wasn't in offense during the first half, but that all changed late in the game.

"I got on Ryan pretty hard and Michael and I just can't say enough about those two guys' effort in the fourth quarter and the two overtimes," Benter said.

"Our bench play was outstanding, Chris and Jeff coming off the bench," he said. "Jeff really responded. I didn't think he played well Tuesday night (at Salem), but (Friday) he was probably the key to the game. He hit a couple of big 3s, a couple big shots for us, and he took care of the basketball."

Taylor Wischmeier's 3-pointer in the fourth quarter tied the game at 42-all, and a steal that he had but lost at the other end of the court threw off Seymour's offense. That forced the Owls to go down the floor with just seconds remaining.

With three big players out of the game, Benter said, "Our guards did a nice job of just spreading (Seymour) out and they had four 3-point shooters on the floor there at the end, and they've got to get up and guard those guys. Our guys looked for the pass and were able to get to the foul line and score. I was really concerned about our rebounding on the defensive end, but we got a couple big ones late and were able to finish at the free throw line."

Owls coach Scott Miller said while the Owls' defense was "decent" in the first half, the Braves got in scoring position and kept with the game.

"(Benter) always have five kids on the floor that are working as hard as they could," Miller said. "We got all kinds of issues here tonight, from free throws to a really key turnover to kids wanting to be in the position they are in at a given time. This game is on my shoulders. We made a lot of mistakes tonight, and it's something we as a coaching staff have to repair, and we don't have very much time to do it."

Missing free throws down the stretch and the turnover were the turning points of the game, Miller said. The Owls also had three players foul out of the game in the overtimes, and that broke up momentum. In the second overtime, the team shot 0-for-4 from the floor and were 0-2 from the free throw line.

Despite the loss, Miller was pleased with the bench play.

"We were very, very happy with how Jordan Fife came off the bench and gave us a huge lift, and he's somebody, as a junior, we're going to have to give a look at to give us a little more speed and he's quite a threat on offense," Miller said.

He added, "I was extremely pleased with the floor play of Jordan Eggersman. I thought that his rebounding and defense got us back in (the game)."

Leading all scorers for the game was Trimnell with 22 points, and he had seven rebounds. Fife and Eggersman each had 12.

For the Braves, Ayers led with 18 points. Wischmeier had a double-double with 17 points and 16 rebounds. Turmail had 10 points in the game.

As a senior, Turmail said after the game that it was a big win, not only because it was at home, but that it was against Seymour.
Coming off the bench, Turmail said, "I just try to come in and help the team out, make big shots and make some crucial shots down the line. Guys stepped up and made free throws at the end."

At halftime and during late timeouts, Turmail said the team received motivation from Benter and the other coaches.

"They told us to keep it up and he knows how good we are and he knows how good we can be," Turmail said. "We finally started playing like we should and I think that helped out a lot. We got down double digits and our guys came together and really came back, and I think it really showed tonight how good of a team we are."

Of hitting the big shots at the end, he said, "I knew once I hit the first shot I just wanted the ball and keep shooting. When you start hitting something, you just try to keep shooting."

Benter said the key of the game was taking care of the basketball and being more efficient on offense. Miller said there's work to be done.

"It is what it is," he said. "We can pout about this or we can go to work on the things that need to be worked on. We've got a long uphill battle right now."

The Braves (2-0) will face Scottsburg Friday for a Mid Southern Conference game. Seymour is back in action tonight hosting Franklin.

Box Score

At Brownstown

Seymour... 9 17 14 17 6 0-63
Brownstown 6 16 10 25 6 5-68

Seymour (0-3): Polbito 2-5 2-2 7, Fife 3-9 3-3 12, Toppe 0-3 0-0 0, Moore 1-3 2-2 4, Carmichael 1-3 0-0 2, Eggersman 2-5 8-17 12, Kiel 1-7 1-4 4, E. Eggersman 0-0 0-0 0, Trimnell 7-21 5-6 22, Kirtley 0-1 0-0 0, totals 17-57 21-34 63.
Brownstown (2-0): Turmail 3-5 1-2 10, S. Allman 0-7 2-4 2, Shoemaker 1-8 6-8 8, Leitzman 2-2 5-6 9, C. Allman 0-0 0-0 0, Wischmeier 4-18 7-8 17, Hinton 1-3 1-2 3, Ayers 5-13 8-12 18, Wagner 0-0 0-0 0, totals 16-56 31-44 68.
3-point goals: S 8-32 (Fife 3, Trimnell 3, Polbito 1, Kiel 1), BC 5-21 (Turmail 3, Wischmeier 2)
Rebounds: S 35 (Trimnell 7, Moore 4, J. Eggersman 4), BC 55 (Wischmeier 16, Ayers 6, Shoemaker 5)
Assists: S 4, BC 10 (Shoemaker 4)
Blocks: S 3 (Trimnell 2, Kirtley 1), BC 2 (Ayers 2)
Steals: S 6 (J. Eggersman 3), BC 3
Turnovers: S 12, BC 12
Fouls: S 28 (Fouled out: Fife, Carmichael, Trimnell), BC 25 (Fouled out: Ayers, Hinton)


Junior varsity

Seymour 7 2 17 13 6-45
Brownstown 15 11 7 6 1-40

Seymour (0-3): Ude 14, E. Eggersman 13, Turner 9, Fellows 5, Hill 4.
Brownstown (0-2): Wagner 15, Snodgrass 9, Olson 6, Schuerman 4, C. Allman 4, Otte 2.

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By ZACH SPICER (The Tribune)

SALEM - Clutch free throws and hot shooting by sophomore Spencer Allman led the Brownstown Braves to a big season-opening victory on the road.

The Braves scored first and led the entire game, overcoming Mid Southern Conference foe Salem on Tuesday night, 54-44.

Fourteen of Allman's 25 points came in the first half, where the Braves held the Lions to only five points in the first quarter and held a 27-18 lead at the half.

Then, when the Lions got within four points late in the fourth, the Braves were 10 of 13 from the free throw line. Braves coach Dave Benter said that was key in the victory.

"That allowed us to extend our lead," Benter said of the clutch free throws. "Then, Salem had a hard time. They kind of panicked offensively and came out and took some quick shots, and then we rebounded. So we did what we had to do and got stops when we needed. You've got to make free throws in basketball games like that."

Allman said the coaches livened up the team coming into the game. That showed on the court in the first half.

"We came out with a lot of energy, forced a few turnovers and that led to easy baskets," Allman said. "Coach told us before the game that this is a big win for the conference, and if we got this game, we would have a good shot. I just told the guys before the game to go out and play hard and shots would fall."

Salem was guilty of 10 turnovers in the first half, compared to BC's six. Leading 11-5 after the first quarter, Allman connected on two field goals and two 3-pointers, with the final 3 giving the Braves a 26-18 advantage with less than a minute remaining in the second quarter.

Salem's Kendall Martin hit three 3-pointers in the first half, but the Lions went into the locker room at the half trailing 27-18.

"We really wanted to get at (Salem's) athleticism," Benter said. "We kind of wanted to slow it down and not let them go on a big run. We tried mixing up our defenses with them and I didn't think they were really ever able to get into sync offensively, and that's huge because they are a team that can really put up a lot of points in a hurry."

Benter pointed to Gunner Erwin of the Lions being "one of the better players in southern Indiana." But for the most part on Tuesday, the Braves were able to. They held Erwin to 3-of-13 shooting and 10 points.

"We didn't get out on their shooters a couple times (in the first half) and those were things we went over at halftime, how their shooters were getting open," Benter said. "Then, we just told them that Salem, just against West Washington the other night, they were down 10 and within two or three minutes they tied it up."

Michael Leitzman got a field goal at 2:04 in the third quarter, giving the Braves a 40-29 lead, which they kept until the end of the quarter.

The game got interesting when the Braves' lead started diminishing. Rhett Huffaker's 3-pointer and field goal within 15 seconds made the score 48-44, with the Braves leading.

"We knew it was going to be a game of runs, we knew they'd make a run," Benter said.

With nearly one minute remaining in the game, Benter called a timeout.

"We tried talking about what we were going to do defensively, what (Salem) would probably be running and we just really wanted the guys to take a breather and relax," he said.

By making the free throws, taking care of the basketball and getting stops, Benter said, "We did those three things and that's what you've got to do in these types of games."

Allman credited his teammates for working together for the victory.

"I've got to give a lot of support to my guards," he said. "They bring the ball up the court, find me when I'm open and it's all about teamwork."

Allman led all scorers on the night with 25. Also for the Braves, Taylor Wischmeier contributed eight points, five rebounds and two steals. Leitzman had seven points and two steals, and Blaze Ayers put up six points and led the team in rebounds with seven.

Erwin and Martin were in double figures for the Lions, with 10 and 13 respectively.

The Braves' next game is Friday hosting county rival Seymour (0-2).

With Friday's game, Allman said, "We need to come out with the same effort in the first half and keep the game close and play hard."



At Salem

Brownstown 11 16 13 14-54
Salem 5 13 11 15-44

Brownstown (1-0): Turmail 1-6 0-0 2, S. Allman 9-16 3-4 25, Shoemaker 0-2 4-5 4, Leitzman 3-4 0-0 7, C. Allman 0-0 0-0 0, Wischmeier 2-7 3-4 8, Olson 0-0 0-0 0, Hinton 1-1 0-0 2, Ayers 1-7 4-6 6, Wagner 0-0 0-0 0, totals 17-43 14-19 54.

Salem (0-2): Baker 1-6 2-2 4, Huffaker 2-4 0-0 5, Erwin 3-13 4-8 10, Martin 4-9 1-3 13, Busick 2-4 0-0 4, Hayes 2-4 1-2 6, Holstine 1-2 0-0 2, Baird 0-0 0-0 0, totals 15-42 8-15 44.

3-point goals: BC 6-19 (S. Allman 4, Leitzman 1, Wischmeier 1), S 6-17 (Martin 4, Huffaker 1, Hayes 1)
Rebounds: BC 29 (Ayers 7, Wischmeier 5), S 29 (Erwin 8, Busick 4)
Assists: BC 9 (Shoemaker 5), S 6
Steals: BC 9 (Leitzman 2, Wischmeier 2, Hinton 2), S 6
Turnovers: BC 11, S 18
Fouls: BC 18, S 19

Junior varsity
Brownstown 7 11 13 14-45
Salem 10 15 9 13-47
Brownstown (0-1): Olson 14, Snodgrass 10, Wagner 8, C. Allman 6, Otte 5, Woods 2.

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