Zach McCory netted 21 points, Jacoby Shade notched 19 points and Cody Waskom added 17 points off the bench to lead the Brownstown Central boys basketball team in a rout against Seymour on Friday.
The Braves torched the Owls 76-39 at Brownstown Central High School in their home-opener.
In the first quarter, the Braves opened on a 10-4 run. The Braves kept the Owls to just six points as they led 20-6 after eight minutes of play.
The Braves’ Shade was hot from the start as he nailed a 3-pointer, netted two more field goals and converted an and-one opportunity in the first quarter for
10 points.
Despite their slow start offensively, the Owls were able to draw six fouls in the opening quarter thanks to aggressive playmaking at the rim.
In the second quarter, things got rough for the Owls. The Owls didn’t score a field goal and scored five free throws on 17 attempts at the line.
The Braves didn’t slow down in the second quarter, as they scored 22 points led by nine points from McCory (one three-pointer).
“I thought we played with much
more energy tonight,” Braves coach
Dave Benter said. “We did press defensively, and in the halfcourt we were active. I thought we anticipated things well in the back and front court, and
we won some 50-50 battles. I really liked our aggressiveness.”
Up 42-11 after intermission, the Braves outscored the Owls 22-10 in the third quarter to all but finish the game.
“(The Braves) are really good defensively,” Owls coach Kyle Clough said. “They take away your strengths and make them play to theirs. I don’t want to take anything away from them because we just didn’t execute. They got tough and brought it. From a execution standpoint that falls on me, these kids deserve better — we need to position to where they can be successful and see some improvements.”
Shade and McCory led the charge once again by scoring nine and seven points, respectively, after 24 minutes.
The Owls committed nine fouls in the third quarter to the Braves’ eight.
Leading 64-21 going into the fourth quarter, the Braves coasted to their second win of the season.
Isaiah Thomas and Alan Perry led the Owls in scoring with seven points each.
At the free-throw line, the Owls finished 15 of 34.
“This has nothing to do with us tonight, (the Braves) are a well-oiled machine,” Clough said. “I thought early on we did a nice job trying to be aggressive — that was our plan. Tough night for us, we have to get back to the drawing board. I didn’t do a good job as a coach getting these guys ready to play.”
At one point in the fourth quarter, the Braves led by 47 points.
“Tonight, I thought we attacked the basket,” Benter said. “You have to establish an inside game with dribble penetration or inside the post. I thought our guards were very unselfish in finding guys. When you make shots things look better, and we made shots in the first half.”
Nine different players scored for
the Braves.
“We have a lot of guys on the bench capable of having big nights,” Benter said. “We had (Waskom) come in and score 17 points. A couple of our starters haven’t scored much, but I think they will break out and have big nights. I though Zach (McCory) and Jacoby (Shade) established their aggressiveness early and got in a comfort zone.”