Braves top Lions in MSC opener

BROWNSTOWN — Whenever the Brownstown Central basketball team needed a basket in the fourth quarter against Salem on Tuesday night, Taylor Wischmeier or Michael Leitzman answered the call.

Both seniors scored twice from the field and combined for five free throws and 11 points in the final quarter to help the Braves take a 49-37 win in the Mid-Southern Conference opener for both teams.

Brownstown held a 34-29 lead going into the fourth period before Salem’s Nate Busick hit a pair of free throws with 6:20 remaining to close the difference to 34-31.

Wischmeier scored inside before Leitzman hit a free throw and scored a basket for a 39-31 advantage, and the closest the Lions came after that was four points.

Braves coach Dave Benter said he was glad to have won, but he felt like his team could have played much better at both ends of the floor.

Benter said his team played good man-to-man defense “at times.”

“They slowed it down and played at a really slow pace,” Benter said. “There were a lot of breakdowns defensively as a team. It seemed like we would have one or two guys really competing defensively. We were trying to pick up the pace defensively and it would seem like one of the other guys would lie down and let them move the basketball.”

Benter said it takes a team effort.

“If one guy is not playing the maximum amount of energy, then there is no need for the other four guys to because they’re going to have an outlet pass every single time,” he said. “Just our mental alertness, I thought, was really bad tonight. As a team, we weren’t mentally as sharp and alert. Salem’s guys were catching the basketball and we were eight feet off our man.
“Several times we didn’t contain the basketball. We didn’t pinch on penetration several times. It’s basic fundamentals defensively that we work on every single day that I did not think we got accomplished.”

Spencer Allman lit up Brownstown’s side of the scoreboard with a 3-pointer from the corner 30 seconds into the game, and his second trey gave the Braves a 6-2 lead with 6:45 left in the opening period.

The Lions roared back and moved on top 8-6 on a layup by Zach Bowling at the 4:40 mark.
Wischmeier hit a pair of shots around a basket by Cody Allman, but the Lions were on top 15-12 after one quarter.

Kelley Wagner tied the score at 14 on a 3-point play at 6:51 of the second period.

The Lions went ice cold at the beginning of the second period, missing their first five shots, turning the ball over three times and making only one free throw over that span.

Brownstown also struggled offensively in the period by shooting 3-for-11 from the floor. Wischmeier added a basket and a pair of free throws and Brett McCory hit a 3-pointer to help the Braves to a 22-18 lead at the half.

Leitzman opened the second-half scoring with a pair of free throws and a steal and layup at 7:01 for a 26-18 cushion.

Once again, the Lions roared back and closed the difference to 26-24 before Spencer Allman added another 3-pointer at 3:42. Wischmeier converted a 3-point play and Jalen Snodgrass added a basket to complete the scoring in the period.

Wischmeier topped all players with 18 points, Spencer Allman added 11 and Leitzman had 10. Busick topped the Lions with 12 points.

Salem held a 19-18 advantage in rebounds. Wischmeier had six to top Brownstown and Busick had six to lead Salem.

The Braves finished with 17-for-35 shooting from the floor to 14-for-30 for the Lions.

“We’re going to see a lot of zones,” Benter said. “Teams are going to try and take Taylor away, and we’ve got to have other players step up and make plays. I thought guys were way too passive at times. I didn’t think guys were near enough alert at times.
“You’ve got to have confidence in your ability to make plays. Obviously, not everybody is as talented as one nother, but you still have to understand your role, yet have confidence and be willing to make a play when the defense presents it to you, especially if they are really keying on one or two guys.
“Your first game a lot of times is sloppy, and we were really sloppy at times. We’re going to have to come out and play a lot better Friday night.”

Brownstown (1-0) will travel to Seymour (1-0) on Friday night.

Box score

At Brownstown
Salem            15 3   11 8—37 
Brownstown 12 10 12 15—49
Brownstown Central (1-0): Spencer Allman 4-10 0-2 11, Michael Leitzman 3-3 4-6 10, Cody Allman 1-3 0-0 2, Taylor Wischmeier 6-12 6-8 18, Ryan Shoemaker 0-0 0-0 0, Jalen Snodgrass 1-1 0-0 2, Kelley Wagner 1-3 1-3 3, Brett McCory 1-3 0-0 3, totals 17-35 11-19 49
Salem (0-2): Matt Steggeman 3-9 0-0 7, Ian Bowling 3-6 0-1 6, Zach Bowling 3-6 0-0 6, Nate Busick 3-4 5-6 12, Kreigh Holstine 2-5 0-0 4, Taylor Banks 0-0 2-2 2, Kyle England 0-0 0-0 0, Andy Nice 0-0 0-0 0, Mikey Romero 0-0 0-0 0, totals 14-30 7-10 37
3-point goals: Brownstown Central (S. Allman 3, McCory), Salem (Steggeman, Busick)
Rebounds: Brownstown Central 18 (Wischmeier 6, Shoemaker 3, Leitzman 3), Salem 19 (Busick 6, Holstine 3, Banks 3)
Turnovers: Brownstown Central 12, Salem 20
Fouls: Brownstown Central 14, Salem 17 (fouled out: Z. Bowling)
Junior varsity
Salem           6  8  10 10—34
Brownstown 8 18 18 12—56
Brownstown Central (1-0): Evan Eggersman 15, McCory 10, Jake Olson 9, Trey DeHart 8, Wade Toppe 5, Kyle Wischmeier 5, Scott Baker 3, Skylar Thompson 1