For the Tribune

SCOTTSBURG

After dropping its first game of the season Tuesday night, the Brownstown Central boys basketball team made Scottsburg pay Friday as it ventured to play the Warriors and left with an 80-65 win.

The game was not easy by any means, but the Braves did all they needed to do to improve to 3-1 overall and 2-0 in the Mid-Southern Conference.

The Braves got off to a hot start in the first quarter as they led 9-7 after the Warriors’ Christian Evans hit a 3-pointer.

Cole Borden knocked down a 3-pointer and Evans hit another 3-pointer to make it 12-10.

Borden drained another 3-pointer and Cam Shoemaker added a trey to take an 18-10 lead. Jacoby Shade and Borden hit back-to-back 3-pointers and Borden converted a 1-and-1 for the 27-13 first quarter lead.

The Braves hit six 3-pointers in the quarter and hit 10 for

the game.

The Braves kept the lead in the second quarter and held their biggest lead of 29-13 early. The Warriors came back and cut the lead to 42-35 at halftime.

“What concerned me was that we were just throwing up shots and they were going in too easy in the first half,” Braves Coach Dave Benter said. “I thought we did a better job in the second half of attacking at the right time.

The Warriors began to chip away at the Braves’ lead in the third quarter and got to within 50-49, but could never get over the hump as the Braves would extend their lead to 56-51 heading into the fourth quarter.

Free throws were a big emphasis for the Braves in the fourth quarter as they hit 13 of 17 in the quarter to slowly pull away for the win. The closest the Warriors came was four points, but then the Braves went on a 7-0 run to put the game away.

“I thought we really responded when they made their run and cut it to 50-49 and called timeout,” Benter said.

The Braves placed four players in double figures as Jacoby Shade led with 21, Borden added 16, all in the first half, Zach McCory added 14 and Cody Waskom came off the bench to score 12.

Cameron Schmidt led the Warriors (4-1, 1-1) with 21 and Evans tallied 20 in the loss.

Brownstown won the battle of the boards 27-21 as three players led with five.

“That was a good Scottsburg team,” Benter said. “They have all the makings of a good team. They got size, they got athleticism, they got great point guard play and they got a college scholarship player on the team.”