BROWNSTOWN
The quest to three-peat as Mid-Southern Conference is still in full effect for the Brownstown Central boys’ basketball team.
The Class 3A No. 6 Braves kept its record unblemished Friday by defeating visiting conference foe Scottsburg 46-25.
The Braves (3-0, 2-0 MSC) came out on fire from the field to start the game, drilling five of its first six shots.
Brownstown opened up an 11-2 lead on the Warriors (0-4, 0-4 MSC) three minutes into the game, backed by seven points from Cameron Luedeman.
Following back-to-back scores by the Warriors’ Treyton Owens and Bradley Whitler, Caleb Bollinger and Braden Neal got baskets to go to put the Braves up 15-6 at the end of eight minutes of play.
The Warriors narrowed the deficit to 17-14, with 3:22 left in the half on two 3-pointers from Mitchell Prince and another bucket by Owens.
The Braves closed the quarter on a 9-4 run, capped by a steal-and-score by Neal with eight ticks on the clock.
At the half, the Braves led 26-18.
The Braves used a third quarter scoring burst to bury the Warriors.
Up 29-22, Brownstown went on a 14-0 run from 5:33 to 2:40 — led by six points by Luedeman — to go up 43-22.
“The shots were falling,” Braves coach Dave Benter said of the scoring streak. “We went to a little bit of a different press in the third quarter in hopes of creating turnovers, which led to easy baskets. It helped our confidence a little bit.”
Hayden Kinsler hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to extend the Braves’ lead to 46-24 at the end of 24 minutes of play.
In the fourth quarter, the Braves never trailed by greater than 16 points.
Of the 21 points scored by the Warriors in the second half, 12 came from the free throw line.
Luedeman led the Braves with 21 points, Boshears scored nine and Neal added eight.
The Warriors won the rebounding battle 25-22, but has 17 turnovers to the Braves’ 10 giveaways.
Brownstown shot 46 percent on 44 field goal attempts and the Warriors shot 31 percent on 38 shots.
“If we can continue to move the ball and get the shots we want, with the way we’ve defended to this point, good things will happen for this basketball team,” Benter said.
The Braves retained the “John Harrell Mythical Traveling Trophy” for a third straight game. Brownstown took the trophy after beating Salem in its season-opening game.
Tonight, Brownstown will travel to South Ripley for a non-conference game.
“Every night’s a battle in our conference,” Benter said. “Any win you get in the conference is a good win. I was really happy with our energy tonight, and I’m hoping it transfers to (tonight).”