BROWNSTOWN
Isaiah Wineinger and Clay Chastain hit 3-pointers in the final minute of the first period to help Brownstown Central take the lead for good on the way to a 61-51 win over Trinity Lutheran on the Braves’ floor Saturday night.
Brownstown coach Dave Benter said it was good to see his team get off to the fast start, shooting 7-for-8 from the floor in the first period to take a 18-15 lead.
“We knew Trinity was going to make a run on us late and we did a nice job of withstanding it,” Benter said. “I thought our guys were well-composed. We took one bad shot there in the last three or four minutes.
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“Once they went to their trapping half-court, run-and-jump defense I thought our guys were well-composed, and we did a nice job finishing at the foul line.”
The Braves held a 47-36 lead going into the fourth period. Tyler Goecker’s layup brought the Cougars to with-in 47-41 with seven minutes remaining, but on the Braves’ next possession, Derek Thompson made a layup, and Wineinger followed that up with a 3-pointer and made 7 of 8 free throws in the final minute to keep the Braves safely ahead.
Trinity coach Michael McBride said his team needed to execute better than it did as the Cougars committed 15 turnovers.
“It came down to execution,” he said. “A lack of execution on our offensive end was really what hurt us. They hit some big shots (early) and we didn’t do a real good job defending their screens which allowed them wide open shots in the first half. At the end of the first half it could have been a five-point swing.
“We could have went in down four and instead we go down nine (35-26). We missed a couple free throws. We were 5-for-12 from the free throw line and that kind of hurt us.”
Wineinger topped BC with five 3-pointers and 24 points, Thompson scored 13 and Chastain had 11, and Benter said it was good to see three players in double figures.
“We talked about that we’ve got to get more than Isaiah scoring the basketball," he said. "I think Clay was putting a lot of pressure on himself and we brought him off the bench and he came in and hit a couple shots. We’ve had different guys in different games, Nathan Koch (Friday) night, Derek Thompson tonight. We’ve got to get more balance. We can’t be a one-man team.
“I thought Eli Brown came in defensively and got his hands on a few balls. I thought our guys did a pretty good job when we adjusted and kept them out of the lane.”
Lucas McKinney added six, Aidan Schroer four and Koch three for the Braves.
The Braves shot 20-for-36 from the floor. Thompson and Schroer were high rebounders with five each.
Trinity shot 20-for-39 from the floor, and Benter said he felt like the Braves did a good job contesting the Cougars’ shots.
“Goecker was a constant problem," he said. "I thought Goecker got going off the dribble a little bit and we had a hard time stopping him. We tried going zone and he hit a ‘3’. He just lowered his head and kept coming at us.”
Jack Marksberry was high scorer for the Cougars with 18 and Goecker scored 17.
Mitchell Hackman scored eight, Hudson Norton four, and Josh Rowe and Jacob Sabotin two each. Goecker topped the Cougars with seven rebounds.
McBride was pleased to see his team battle to the end.
“We didn’t quit. We played hard," he said. "They kept digging and tried to come up with something. We’ve just can’t put ourselves in those spots. We’ve got to play better as a team and execute.”
Brandon Reynolds scored nine and Kiernan Tiemeyer eight to help Brownstown win the JV game 58-40. Levi Stahl, Carter Waskom and Brady Waskom scored seven each, Carson Darlage six, Ethan Davis and Eli Wischmeier five each, and Ethan Fultz and Sam Schepman had two each.
Logan Brown topped Trinity with 13, Chase Sawyer and Caleb Williams each had seven, Kade Hill six, Michal Baumgartel four and Evan Hunt three.
The Braves (3-9) will host Indian Creek Friday, while Trinity (6-9) will travel to Medora Friday.