Boys' First Team

That included four sectional, three Mid-Southern Conference and two Graber Post Buildings Classic titles, as well as one regional title and one semistate title.

He also earned individual recognition this past winter, including GPBC most valuable player, Hoosier Basketball Coaches Association All-Star team, Indiana South 3A All-Star team. Hoosier Basketball Magazine’s Top 60 Workout and all-Mid-Southern Conference.

To cap off his high school career, Snodgrass was presented the team’s most valuable player award during Tuesday night’s awards program in the high school auditorium.

“This guy led us in several statistical categories, had several postseason honors,” Braves head coach Dave Benter said. “He had as big of a jump from his junior year to his senior year as I can remember of anyone, not only as a basketball player, but his mentality. He’s really grown up as a basketball player this year, and he had a great season for us.”

Benter also presented four awards based on statistics, and Snodgrass earned two of them. He led the team with 136 assists and had the highest free throw percentage, going 112 of 139 for 81 percent. It was his second straight year earning the assist award.

Snodgrass scored a team-high 568 points during his senior season, and he also led in steals (47) and scoring average per game (21.8). He also tallied 107 rebounds and eight blocks.

The other statistical awards went to junior Skylar Thompson for his 58 percent field goal percentage, and junior Brett McCory for leading the team with 148 rebounds. Thompson also earned the field goal percentage award last year, and Benter noted this year, Thompson shot 57 percent from 3-point range.

Two other plaques were handed out, and the team voted on those awards.

Junior Tanner Payton earned the outstanding defense award, and senior Trey DeHart was presented the Jonathon Brewer Mental Attitude Award for the second straight year. The latter award is presented in honor of Brewer, who several years ago was a manager for the boys basketball team but was killed in a car accident before his senior year.

“He had a wonderful attitude for us,” Benter said of DeHart. “He did get upset in practice this year and I had to pull him aside, and that’s because he’s competitive and he hates to lose. The guy really loved basketball.”

Benter presented letter jackets to McCory and manager Clate Kaiser, and McCory received a certificate for being named to the all-MSC team.

The Braves finished the season with a 23-3 mark and a No. 8 ranking in their first year playing at the Class 3A level. Highlights were winning the GPBC, finishing 8-1 in the MSC and sharing the title with Silver Creek and Clarksville, beating Silver Creek, Corydon Central and Salem to win their fourth straight sectional title and first in 3A and beating the top-ranked and undefeated Greensburg in the regional semifinals before falling to No. 6 Evansville Bosse in the finals.

The sectional consisted of all MSC teams, and Benter said his guys “made plays when they had to and did enough things to win.”

The regional game against Greensburg, Benter said, was “maybe the best game from start to finish” of the season, and in the championship, Evansville Bosse “played extremely well against us.”

“There was a lot of individual success and a lot of team success,” Benter said, noting how the players were unselfish and there was no drama. “If you have good seniors, you have good chemistry. There were a lot of positives from the season.”

Benter wrapped up his 14th season at BCHS, and he has a record of 236-101 with six MSC and six sectional titles as well as two state finals appearances.

Also recognized on Tuesday night were the freshman and junior varsity basketball teams and the cheerleaders.

Brandon Allman led the freshman team to a 10-6 record in his second year of coaching at BCHS, and Marty Young guided the JV team to a 15-3 mark in his second year, with the team losing the three games by a combined eight points.

Young presented awards to two sophomores. Austin Snodgrass was the top free throw shooter, going 25 of 37, and Chaz Schneider was named the most improved player. Both also were contributors at the varsity level.

“I took a lot of shots in the summer, working on my outside shooting,” the Brownstown Central senior said. “I worked in (the gym) a lot in the summer, and playing in the Salem League and playing in the tournaments in the summer, that really helped.”

At the beginning of the season, Snodgrass said, “I did take the challenge to be the person to step up and be a leader and facilitate some of the scoring and not just be a scorer, but an overall leader on the floor, a vocal leader that knows what needs to be done and make sure that gets done to win the games.”

He has been a two-year varsity starter and was a member of the 2008-09 team that advanced to the Class 2A state championship game.

Snodgrass has been a guard throughout his career.

“My freshman and sophomore years, I was more of a point guard, and I still consider myself more of a point guard, but with us having more point guards on the team that are capable of taking care of the ball, I can move to the wing and play off the ball,” he said.

Snodgrass said he prefers to shoot from the top of the key.

“That is my favorite spot,” he said. “There are different keys to a man versus a zone (defense). I prefer to play against a man defense. It’s more of a cut-and-move screen-type offense, where a zone is just a lot of quick ball movement and trying to sneak behind the defense and get some easy layups or some easy 3s. Man is a lot more fun to play against for me. That way, you can’t slow the ball down.”

He said he likes a fast-paced game.

“I would rather play up-and-down the whole game, have an up-tempo style game as to hold the ball and keep the score in the 40s or 50s,” Snodgrass said. “I would rather push the ball and keep the game up-tempo.”

Teamwork this season, he said, has been “amazing.”

“We’re a very unselfish team,” he said. “We know where the ball needs to go, and we try to get it there at the right time and get it to the players where they can score. Nobody cares about who scores the points, who takes the game-winning shot or anything like that. It’s a team effort, and everybody understands their role and understands that not just one player is going to get the credit for the win. It’s a team effort.”

Snodgrass said the Braves will need teamwork to post wins in today’s Washington Regional.

“It will take hard work, focus, dedication,” he said. “Everybody understands what we have to do, and everybody knows it’s going to be a tough game, so we just have to stay calm and relaxed and play the game.”

Snodgrass has a younger brother, Austin, on the team.

“To grow up and be on the same basketball team is really special,” Snodgrass said. “Coach (Dave) Benter let me and Trey (DeHart) and our two brothers play with each other on Senior Night, and that was really special to me.”

Jalen Snodgrass file

PARENTS: Jacki Hall, Todd Snodgrass

SIBLING: Austin

SPORTS: Basketball 4 years, baseball 3 years

HONORS: In basketball, four sectional titles, 2008-09 state finalist, all-Mid-Southern Conference, Graber Post Buildings Classic all-tournament team in 2011 and 2012 and tournament MVP in 2012

HOME GAMES: “There’s nothing like this place. The last four years, I’ve enjoyed every single minute we’ve spent in this gym. The fans, the band, everything. This program has been absolutely awesome. I couldn’t ask for anything better.”

AWAY GYM: “I love playing at Seymour. I love that gym. It’s really cool, it’s nice.”

ATTENDING BCHS: “The school has good academics. The teachers are awesome and take time out of their day before school or after school to help you if you need help. It’s a great school to be a part of.”

ORGANIZATIONS: Booster Club, B.A.D., Lettermen’s Club

The Class 3A No. 8 Braves played solid on both ends of the court in pulling off the 64-57 upset in the Washington Regional.

In the championship game, though, Brownstown ran into a quick, athletic Evansville Bosse team that was strong in transition and going to the basket. The sixth-ranked Bulldogs claimed a 77-56 victory to improve to 23-4 on the season and advance to semistate, while the Braves finished 23-3.

“We had more offensive rebounds, we only had two more turnovers, but there were two big things,” Braves coach Dave Benter said. “We did not make shots like earlier today (against Greensburg), and we couldn’t keep them out of the lane. Those were the differences in the game.”

Jalen Pendleton, a 6-foot-2 senior guard, was a force for the Bulldogs. He scored 12 of his team’s 19 points in the first quarter, including two three-point plays and a putback. He then scored seven or more points in each of the final three quarters and finished with a game-high 34 points.

Pendleton shot 12 of 15 from the floor, all from 2-point range, and 10 of 16 from the free-throw line. The Bulldogs shot 27 of 48 from the floor to the Braves’ 23 of 57, and a big difference was Evansville Bosse made 20 of 30 free throws while Brownstown was only 4 of 7.

“They were so good offensively, we could not get any momentum going to cut into the lead,” Benter said. “And plus, we put them at the foul line. There was a huge discrepancy in fouls (21 for the Braves, 11 for the Bulldogs), and they are only shooting 63 percent as a team from the line. They ended up 20 of 30, and it seemed like for a while, they weren’t missing any free throws.”

Brownstown stayed within single digits throughout the first quarter, but the Braves couldn’t stop Pendleton from driving in the lane. Jaquan Lyle’s dunk in transition at 3:10 gave the Bulldogs a 13-6 advantage, and Chaz Schneider’s 3-pointer at the buzzer pulled the Braves within 19-13.

Brett McCory opened the second quarter with a basket to make it a four-point game, but Evansville Bosse responded with five straight. At the 2-minute mark, Lyle made a behind-the-back pass to Pendleton underneath the basket, and he converted a three-point play for a 31-19 lead.

The Bulldogs never let the Braves pull within single digits the rest of the night, and they led 37-23 at the break.

“I don’t know if our guys were tired from this morning, but we had a really hard time getting back in transition and keeping them out of the lane, and that was our game plan,” Benter said. “This morning, we executed our game plan to an absolute T. Our guys did everything we asked and more.”

But against Evansville Bosse, things didn’t go as planned.

“That’s the most motivated I’ve seen (the Bulldogs) for 32 minutes all year on film, and we just had all kinds of trouble keeping them out of the lane,” he said. “Once we finally did start collapsing, they hit a couple 3s, and then we had a real hard time keeping them off the backboard.”

Two of the Bulldogs’ three 3-pointers in the game came in the third quarter.

Perry Fairrow, whose 3-point shooting helped Evansville Bosse rally past Vincennes Lincoln 58-54 in Saturday’s other semifinal, nailed one from the left wing at 6:20 for a 42-25 lead, and Jordan Bailey knocked one down at 3:33 for a 50-30 lead.

The Bulldogs led 55-36 going into the final quarter, and their largest lead was 75-48 with 1:30 to go.

“We played so well this morning. We just couldn’t get over the hump tonight,” Benter said. “We couldn’t cut into their lead enough to put pressure on them to give us a chance toward the end of the game.”

Jalen Snodgrass led Brownstown with 17 points, but he was the only Brave scoring in double figures.

Pendleton added a game-high 10 rebounds to finish with a double-double for Evansville Bosse, and Lyle contributed 14 points.

Evansville Bosse moves on to semistate, where it will meet Guerin Catholic (22-5), which defeated Indianapolis Manual 61-47 and Frankfort 61-44 to capture the Greencastle Regional title on Saturday.

Benter had many positive words about his team.

“We won our holiday tournament, we won our conference, we won sectional and we were regional finalists,” he said. “There’s not many teams that can say they’ve had the year this team has had. When you have good seniors who are good kids and good people, you have good chemistry and no drama, and it’s been a drama-free year for me as a coach and I really appreciate that out of them.

“This has been one of my more enjoyable years to coach,” he added. “Our guys have been very unselfish, they really don’t care who gets the credit and we’ve had different guys (step up) at different times, so it’s been a great group to coach and I’m really proud of them the way they stepped up this morning and played well and gave us a chance at the regional.”

Semifinals: Brownstown Central 64, Greensburg 57

In the semifinal game between Brownstown and Greensburg, three of four quarters ended on buzzer-beating 3-pointers.

The teams were knotted at 13 at the end of the first quarter, but the Pirates called a timeout at 4:58 of the second quarter after Tanner Payton’s 3-pointer off of a turnover gave the Braves a 21-15 advantage.

Each team scored before Bryant McIntosh knocked the ball loose from the Braves and heaved it from three-quarters court and nailed the bucket to pull within 23-20 at halftime.

The Pirates scored the first six points of the second half, but the remainder of the third quarter went back-and-forth. Chase Klinge made a pair of free throws before Snodgrass nailed a 3 off of an inbounds pass in the closing seconds, but then Greensburg’s Macy Holdsworth dribbled to half-court and launched the ball, and it went in as the buzzer sounded for a 40-36 score.

Schneider opened the fourth quarter with back-to-back 3s, and the Braves held on from there. The final buzzer-beating 3 was by Snodgrass at the end of the fourth quarter.

“The first half, I thought, was as well as we’ve probably defended all year,” Benter said. “In the second half, (the Pirates) tried turning up the pressure, and like Bosse, they are so capable of going on huge runs, and we kept saying we cannot let them go on a huge run. We didn’t, and our guys were really disciplined and we made shots.”

Brownstown shot 21 of 36 from the field, including eight 3s, and 14 of 19 from the foul line. Greensburg, on the other hand, was 20 of 42 from the field with six 3s and 11 of 12 from the line.

Payton led the Braves with 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting and 3 of 4 at the line, Snodgrass scored 17 and Schneider tallied 16 on 5-for-5 shooting from the field and 2 of 3 from the line.

The Pirates’ Sean Sellers led all scorers with 24 points, including 10 of 10 at the line, and McIntosh had 14. Greensburg finished the season with a 23-1 record.

Box score

Class 3A Washington Regional

At Washington

Semifinals

Brownstown 13 10 17 24—64

Greensburg 13 7 16 21—57

Brownstown Central (23-2): Trey DeHart 0-2 0-0 0, Jalen Snodgrass 6-11 2-2 17, Brett McCory 2-5 4-6 8, Tanner Payton 8-11 3-4 20, Skylar Thompson 0-2 0-0 0, Chaz Schneider 5-5 2-3 16, Chase Klinge 0-0 3-4 3, Wade Toppe 0-0 0-0 0, Kyle Wischmeier 0-0 0-0 0, totals 21-36 14-19 64

Greensburg (23-1): Iven Stewart 2-5 1-2 5, Macy Holdsworth 2-7 0-0 6, Bryant McIntosh 6-13 0-0 14, Ryan Welage 0-1 0-0 0, Sean Sellers 7-11 10-10 24, Collin Rigney 2-4 0-0 6, Clayton Tressler 1-1 0-0 2, Matt Lee 0-0 0-0 0, Tyler Burcham 0-0 0-0 0, totals 20-42 11-12 57

3-point goals: Brownstown Central (Schneider 4, Snodgrass 3, Payton), Greensburg (Holdsworth 2, Rigney 2, McIntosh 2)

Rebounds: Brownstown Central 17 (Payton 7), Greensburg 22 (Sellers 10)

Turnovers: Brownstown Central 10, Greensburg 15

Fouls: Brownstown Central 14, Greensburg 16

Championship

Brownstown 13 10 13 20—56

Evansville Bosse 19 18 18 22—77

Brownstown Central (23-3): DeHart 0-1 0-1 0, Snodgrass 8-15 0-0 17, McCory 4-12 0-0 8, Payton 2-6 2-4 6, Thompson 3-6 2-2 9, Schneider 2-7 0-0 5, Toppe 2-6 0-0 5, Klinge 0-0 0-0 0, Collin DeHart 2-3 0-0 6, Austin Snodgrass 0-1 0-0 0, Kory Kovert 0-0 0-0 0, Wischmeier 0-0 0-0 0, totals 23-57 4-7 56

Evansville Bosse (23-4): Jalen Pendleton 12-15 10-16 34, Romeo Wright 1-2 0-0 2, Jaquan Lyle 4-10 6-8 14, Perry Fairrow 3-6 0-0 8, Jesha Fox 0-1 0-0 0, Bo Burkhart 1-4 0-0 3, Jordan Bailey 2-3 0-0 4, Saeed Walcott 1-2 1-2 3, Jacob Wilbourn 3-5 3-4 9, Zach Cox 0-0 0-0 0, Bryson Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Jeremy Martin 0-0 0-0 0, totals 27-48 20-30 77

3-point goals: Brownstown Central (C. DeHart 2, J. Snodgrass, Thompson, Schneider, Toppe), Evansville Bosse (Fairrow 2, Burkhart)

Rebounds: Brownstown Central 25 (Thompson 6, T. DeHart 5), Evansville Bosse 29 (Pendleton 10, Lyle 8)

Turnovers: Brownstown Central 10, Evansville Bosse 8

After Brownstown Central and Salem squared off, only one team stood tall.

With 1:36 remaining on the clock, Brownstown’s Tanner Payton scored a basket to cut Salem’s lead to 49-48. After neither team scored a point for more than a minute, Jalen Snodgrass drained a 3-pointer with 23 seconds left to give the Braves a 51-49 lead.

After the Lions got the ball in bounds, Payton came up with a steal, and Snodgrass got the pass from Payton and was fouled. Snodgrass made 1 of 2 from the free-throw line for a 52-49 lead.

The Lions then got the ball past midcourt and Snodgrass picked off the pass and led Brett McCory down the court, and he scored a layup with three seconds left to give the Braves the 54-49 win. It was Brownstown’s fourth straight sectional title, but first at the 3A level.

Payton had another big night for the Braves, leading the team with 19 points.

“The crowd got into the game and my adrenaline was going, so I was jacked and ready to go,” Payton said. “It is crazy, and I am at a loss for words. It’s unbelievable, and I got all choked up and I was so excited.”

Snodgrass also played big for the Braves with 18 points in the game, and he made the biggest 3-pointer of the game to put his team up by two late in the game.

“It’s awesome, it’s great and this is one of those games you train all season for, and you practice hours on end for seven days a week for these games,” Snodgrass said after the win. “You endure the blood, sweat and tears and everything with your teammates.”

When the fourth quarter began, the Lions held a 42-38 lead, but Snodgrass had back-to-back baskets to tie the game at 42 and Payton scored at 5:25 for a 44-42 lead. The Braves then came up with a steal at midcourt and Chaz Schneider made a layup for a 46-42 lead.

On the Lions’ next possession, though, Andy Nice was fouled on a 3-point attempt and hit three free throws to begin a 7-0 run that gave them a three-point lead.

After that, the Braves took over and claimed the win.

“We got down four, and it’s a game of runs,” Snodgrass said. “It’s momentum, and it was deafening in here and we couldn’t hear anything. Coach told me to go, and I have been a part of this for four years now and I know what I am doing here and had the instinct to go toward the rim.”

Early in the game, the Braves held a 5-4 lead after a Snodgrass 3-pointer. The Lions then took a 9-5 lead before taking a 16-13 advantage into the second quarter.

The Braves used a 6-0 run to start the second quarter for a 19-16 lead, and then the Lions regained a one-point lead. McCory put the Braves on top 21-19 with a basket, but the Lions went on a 9-0 run, and they led 29-25 at the break.

“We knew they would come out and be physical, and they played their heart out and we played our heart out,” Braves coach Dave Benter said. “We knew we would get their best game, and they really played well. I think they controlled the game for about 85 or 90 percent of the game.”

After the break, Trey DeHart hit a free throw to cut the Lions’ lead to 31-28, but Salem scored the next five points to take its biggest lead of the game, 36-28. Both teams then went back-and-forth over the final four minutes of the third quarter, and the the Lions held a four-point lead.

“I told the boys to relax and it would come back to us if we started to play defense and rebounding,” Benter said of when the Lions pulled ahead by eight. “Our pressure kind of hurt them in the fourth quarter, but at that time, we weren’t containing the basketball and we were not defensive rebounding.

“All of a sudden, our guys cut it to four and then we had a four-point lead. We then fouled the 3-point shooter, turned the ball over, but Jalen made some huge plays in the last 35 seconds to win the game for us,” he added.

The Braves used a big fourth quarter by shooting 6 of 12 from the floor, and they forced the Lions to turn the ball over seven times and held them to 2-of-3 shooting from the floor.

“Tanner played an unbelievable game, but played an unbelievable sectional,” Benter said of his junior forward. “He played well, Jalen made some big plays, but there are so many guys out there. I thought our bench played well for three games, but we were very fortunate to win tonight.”

The Braves trailed for most of the night, but Payton and the Braves didn’t give up and continued to battle back.

“I am just glad no one got down too much,” Payton said of trailing by eight. “We just kept battling back and battling back and got the win.”

Snodgrass also was glad that his teammates didn’t give up.

“Benter told us it was a game of runs, and the way they play and the way we play, it will come back to us,” Snodgrass said. “He told us to keep our composure and execute on the offensive end, and we did that in the second half.”

The Braves shot 22 of 51 from the field for the game, while the Lions were 20 of 44. The Lions won the rebounding battle 27-22, and Payton led the Braves with seven.

Taylor Banks led the Lions (13-10) with eight rebounds, but Zach Bowling led with 12 points.

The Braves improved to 22-2 and will play No. 1-ranked and unbeaten Greensburg (23-0) at 10 a.m. on Saturday in the Washington Regional, while Evansville Bosse (21-4) and Vincennes Lincoln (15-7) will play the second game. The championship game is scheduled for 8 p.m.

“We need to show a lot of heart this week in practice,” Snodgrass said, “and we need to get off to a fast start on Saturday.”

Box score

Class 3A Sectional 30

At Salem

Championship

Salem 16 13 13 7—49

Brownstown 13 12 13 16—54

Brownstown Central (22-2): Trey DeHart 0-3 1-2 1, Jalen Snodgrass 6-17 4-6 18, Brett McCory 2-7 0-0 4, Tanner Payton 8-12 2-3 19, Skylar Thompson 3-4 0-0 6, Chaz Schneider 1-4 0-0 2, Wade Toppe 0-0 0-0 0, Chase Klinge 2-4 0-0 4, totals 22-51 7-11 54

Salem (13-10): Ian Bowling 5-7 1-1 11, Zach Bowling 6-12 0-3 12, Jalen Brown 1-3 0-0 2, Taylor Banks 4-15 2-5 11, Andy Nice 1-4 3-3 6, Kyle Taylor 0-0 0-0 0, Zane Jackson 2-2 0-0 5, Derek Catlett 1-1 0-0 2, totals 20-44 6-12 49

3-point goals: Brownstown Central (Snodgrass 2, Payton), Salem (Banks, Jackson, Nice)

Rebounds: Brownstown Central 22 (Payton 7, Snodgrass 4, McCory 4), Salem 27 (Banks 8, Z. Bowling 7)

Turnovers: Brownstown Central 6, Salem 15

Otherwise, the Braves could have been in a sticky situation in Saturday night’s Class 3A Sectional 30 semifinal game against Corydon Central at Salem.

Brownstown’s downfall was 19 turnovers, but the Braves made up for that by shooting 21 of 36 from the field, including 11 3-pointers, with six coming from Chaz Schneider off the bench. The Panthers, on the other hand, went 22 of 46 from the field, but they only made two 3s.

And after missing 11 free throws in Wednesday’s first-round game, the Braves went a sharp 18 of 20 from the line on Saturday. Corydon was 16 of 27.

In the end, Brownstown won 71-62 to advance to tonight’s championship game against host Salem (13-9), which knocked off Scottsburg 68-50 in Saturday’s other semifinal game.

Jalen Snodgrass started out hot for the Braves by making his first three shots. The third one was a 3 that gave the Braves a 7-4 lead, and they led 14-9 after one quarter despite turning the ball over six times.

The Panthers then focused their attention on Snodgrass, but that left Schneider open. Snodgrass buried a 3 at 7:45, and Schneider followed that up with one of his own. Brownstown then had a nice play when Schneider came up with a steal and threw the ball to Snodgrass, who faked a shot and then stepped over and made his third trey of the game.

Schneider hit his second 3 in transition at 5:33 for the Braves’ largest lead of the half, 26-13. Trey DeHart later found Schneider open for a 29-19 edge, and the Braves held a 34-24 lead at the break.

“I just get on a roll and I try to keep going,” Schneider said of shooting from long range. “Hopefully I keep hitting them.”

Schneider agreed that the Panthers focusing on Snodgrass helped him get open, but he said, “Then, they got all over me and it started to get a little bit tougher, but I hit a couple more…It feels great. It feels like you’re unstoppable. It’s fun. (His teammates) got me the passes when I was hitting, and that was good, too.”

Corydon pulled within seven points twice in the third quarter, on Brayden Lander’s three-point play in transition at 6:13 and Tyler Shewmaker’s free throw at 4:29.

But who answered for the Braves? Schneider, of course.

His fourth 3 of the game at 3:44 pushed the lead back to 10, and his trey at 2:56 was Brownstown’s 10th of the game. Tanner Payton assisted Schneider on both 3s, and the Braves led 50-39 going into the fourth quarter.

Midway through the final quarter, Corydon pulled within single digits twice. Lander’s layup at 5:14 made it 55-47, but Snodgrass’ feed to Payton shortly after made it a 10-point game.

Brownstown ended up with seven turnovers in the fourth quarter and was outscored 23-21, but the Braves went 14 of 16 from the free-throw line.

“We were just really sloppy with the basketball. It’s uncharacteristic of our team,” Braves coach Dave Benter said of his team’s 19 turnovers. “We were just really fortunate we shot the ball really well because I didn’t think we played very well in a lot of other areas. When you shoot the ball that well, it can compensate for a lot of those deficiencies.”

Benter wasn’t overly pleased with his team’s defense or rebounding, and he obviously wasn’t happy with the turnovers.

“Those are things we can control. You don’t always shoot the ball well, but you can control those other things,” he said. “We were just really fortunate that Chaz came off the bench and hit the shots that he did and Tanner was able to get loose and score inside.”

Payton finished with a game-high 20 points, and the Braves (21-2) had balance with Schneider scoring a varsity career-high 19 points and Snodgrass and Brett McCory contributing 15 apiece. McCory made it a double-double with a game-high 10 rebounds.

“Chaz and Kyle (Wischmeier) are guys that I tell our guys any time they are open, they have to have the basketball,” Benter said. “We’ve got a lot of confidence in (Schneider) shooting the basketball. I thought early in the season, he was just a shooter and he just came in and shot, but the last month, he’s gotten better in other areas. He’s passing the ball better, he’s defending better and he needs to keep improving in those areas. But he was a huge boost for us tonight and played really well.”

The Panthers (12-11) also had a balanced attack, with Bronson Kessinger leading the way with 16 and Tyler Ross scoring 14, Lander 12 and Shewmaker 11.

Brownstown and Salem met in the first game of the season, with the Braves coming out on top 61-44 on their home floor. In that game, however, the Lions were without their best player.

“We’re really familiar with their personnel. We played them a lot in the summer,” Benter said. “They are very athletic, they can turn you over very easily and they get after it in their press and their half-court traps and their half-court man-to-man, so we cannot be nonchalant with the basketball. We have got to be focused where we’re going to limit our turnovers. They are also a very good rebounding team, and we’ve got to rebound the basketball.”

Box score

Class 3A Sectional 30

At Salem

Semifinals

Brownstown 14 20 16 21—71

Corydon 9 15 15 23—62

Brownstown Central (21-2): Trey DeHart 0-0 0-0 0, Jalen Snodgrass 6-13 0-0 15, Brett McCory 2-6 9-10 15, Tanner Payton 7-9 6-6 20, Skylar Thompson 0-0 0-0 0, Chaz Schneider 6-8 1-2 19, Chase Klinge 0-0 2-2 2, Wade Toppe 0-0 0-0 0, Kyle Wischmeier 0-0 0-0 0, Kory Kovert 0-0 0-0 0, Austin Snodgrass 0-0 0-0 0, Collin DeHart 0-0 0-0 0, totals 21-36 18-20 71

Corydon Central (12-11): Brayden Lander 4-10 4-6 12, Tyler Shewmaker 3-7 5-8 11, Tyler Ross 5-10 3-4 14, Bronson Kessinger 7-14 2-5 16, Justin Yates 1-2 2-4 4, Dylan Jensen 0-1 0-0 0, Chase Burton 0-0 0-0 0, Joseph Hinton 1-1 0-0 2, Timothy Wiseman 1-1 0-0 3, Tommy Wiseman 0-0 0-0 0, totals 22-46 16-27 62

3-point goals: Brownstown Central (Schneider 6, J. Snodgrass 3, McCory 2), Corydon Central (Timothy Wiseman, Ross)

Rebounds: Brownstown Central 26 (McCory 10, Payton 5), Corydon Central 20 (Kessinger 9, Ross 5)

Turnovers: Brownstown Central 19, Corydon Central 13

After Silver Creek’s Caleb Sprigler made a layup with 21 seconds remaining in Wednesday’s first-round game of the Class 3A Sectional 30 at Salem to even the score at 50, Brownstown Central called a timeout to set up a play.

The Braves moved the ball around, but somewhere along the way, the designed play got off track. Jalen Snodgrass had the ball near midcourt on the left side and penetrated the lane. He was then swarmed by Dragons, so he made a beautiful pass to Skylar Thompson on the right side of the goal, and Thompson went up strong for a 52-50 lead.

Silver Creek quickly called a timeout, and the Dragons had 1.8 seconds to try and upset Brownstown for the second time of the season or force overtime. The Dragons got the ball in Grant Meyer’s hands, and he dribbled before launching the ball just past midcourt, but the ball bounced off the right side of the rim.

It was Indiana high school basketball at its finest.

“We were just trying to get something going to the basket there,” said Thompson, a junior who scored nine points on 4-for-4 shooting from the field. “When Jalen started to drive, he saw that he couldn’t get to the lane, so he was going to pull up and shoot. He just happened to see me, and the guy guarding me happened to come up a little bit, and (Snodgrass) saw an opening right there and I guess he just threw it up there hoping I was going to get it.”

It all happened so quick, Thompson was nearly at a loss for words when trying to explain the game-winning shot.

“I was thinking that I needed to get to the open spot and get the rebound or something. I didn’t have any idea of what was going to happen,” he said. Of making the game-winner, he added, “I was really excited…I just knew that one counted.”

Braves coach Dave Benter was glad to see his team make a play at the end.

“We had a play call, and it kind of got kicked around a little bit and it became a broken play,” Benter said. “I didn’t want to call a timeout because I feel Jalen is one of the best playmakers around and I was really confident in his ability to ad lib and create something, and that’s exactly what he did.”

And Thompson finished it off.

“Skylar is very capable of doing that,” Benter said. “He ran right to the right spot, Jalen made a perfect pass and (Thompson) went up and finished right where he needed to.”

The remainder of the game was just as intense as the final minute.

Brownstown drove to the basket several times in the first quarter but struggled to get shots to fall, going 4 of 15 from the field. But Snodgrass’ three-point play at 1:17 gave the Braves a 9-8 lead, which held until the start of the second quarter.

Just nine seconds into the second quarter, Chase Klinge lobbed the ball inside to Snodgrass and he converted another three-point play, and Thompson’s 3 from the right wing forced Silver Creek into a timeout.

The Dragons responded with five straight points, and they later tied the score at 18 and 24, with the latter coming at 1:52. From there, Snodgrass made two free throws and Kyle Wischmeier made a layup on a steal by Klinge, while Meyer went 3 of 4 from the foul line for the Dragons, and the Braves led 28-27 at the half.

The third quarter consisted of three ties and two lead changes. Silver Creek led 36-32 on Meyer’s drive to the basket at 4:48, but the Braves then outscored the Dragons 8-2, with Snodgrass’ floater in the closing seconds giving Brownstown a 40-38 edge going into the fourth.

Snodgrass’ basket at 6:28 made it 44-40, and the Braves maintained a slim lead until Sprigler’s layup evened the score at 50.

Silver Creek had several opportunities to pull out the win, including when the Dragons poked the ball out of the Braves’ hands at 1:01, drove to the basket and drew a foul. Layne Taylor, however, only hit 1 of 2 and the Dragons trailed 49-48.

The Braves’ Brett McCory was fouled with 35 seconds left and only made 1 of 2, and the wild finish ensued.

Brownstown had an uncharacteristic 9-of-20 showing at the free-throw line, and the Braves shot 20 of 45 from the field. Silver Creek was 12 of 19 from the line and 18 of 45 from the field.

The Braves lost to the Dragons 72-63 on Jan. 13, and that was their only Mid-Southern Conference setback of the season. On Wednesday, though, there was more at stake.

“I thought we defended so much better than we did the first time we played Silver Creek,” Benter said. “We made them work for shots, we kept them off the baseline, we contested their 3s. They’ve got such a great ability to space out the floor and so many scorers, and they are so athletic.

“Both teams were very evenly matched, and that’s a really good basketball team we just beat,” he added. “We knew if both teams played well, it was going to be a last-possession game. Whoever scored the last possession had a chance to win.”

Snodgrass led the Braves (20-2) with 17 points, followed by Tanner Payton with 11 and McCory with 10.

Meyer led all scorers with 19 points and Sprigler had 17 as the Dragons finished 13-8.

The Braves advance to Friday’s semifinals, where they will face Corydon Central (12-10), a 59-46 winner over Charlestown in Wednesday’s second game. Brownstown beat Corydon 65-47 on Jan. 28.

Box score

Class 3A Sectional 30

Silver Creek 8 19 11 12—50

Brownstown 9 19 12 12—52

Brownstown Central (20-2): Trey DeHart 0-1 0-0 0, Jalen Snodgrass 6-21 5-8 17, Brett McCory 3-6 4-10 10, Tanner Payton 5-10 0-2 11, Skylar Thompson 4-4 0-0 9, Chaz Schneider 1-1 0-0 3, Kyle Wischmeier 1-1 0-0 2, Wade Toppe 0-1 0-0 0, Chase Klinge 0-0 0-0 0, totals 20-45 9-20 52

Silver Creek (13-8): Grant Meyer 6-15 7-11 19, Caleb Sprigler 8-14 0-0 17, Zach Ricketts 1-7 0-0 3, Jacob Brooks 2-6 4-6 8, Zach McCall 1-3 0-0 2, Layne Taylor 0-0 1-2 1, Lucas Barnett 0-0 0-0 0, totals 18-45 12-19 50

3-point goals: Brownstown Central (Payton, Thompson, Schneider), Silver Creek (Sprigler, Ricketts)

Rebounds: Brownstown Central 23 (Thompson 5, McCory 5, Snodgrass 5), Silver Creek 30 (Meyer 8, McCall 7, Brooks 5)

Turnovers: Brownstown Central 6, Silver Creek 6

For one, it’s hard to beat a team twice. The Braves beat the Bulldogs 64-50 in the semifinals of the Graber Post Buildings Classic before going on to win the holiday tournament.

Secondly, you have to play with energy from the start and maintain it. On Friday, Class 3A No. 5 Brownstown waited until the fourth quarter to play like it has a majority of the season, and Class A No. 12 Orleans didn’t buckle under pressure.

“We played really, really hard in the fourth quarter, but the problem was we waited until the fourth quarter,” Braves coach Dave Benter said. “There were times we played hard. Orleans just played really well, too. A lot of credit goes to them. They played really, really well, and they shot the ball exceptionally well.”

How exceptional? Well, 24 of 36 pretty much says it all.

After Brownstown scored the first two points of the game, Orleans went on a 9-2 run. Tanner Payton’s basket at 1:14, though, made it 14-all, but Trey Bradley’s three-point play with 36 seconds left in the first quarter gave the Bulldogs a 17-14 advantage.

Orleans shot 7 for 10 from the field in the first quarter and continued strong in the second, going 6 of 9. The Bulldogs weren’t afraid to drive to the basket, and they fared just as well shooting from beyond the arc.

Lucas McCullough stepped up on Senior Night, coming off the bench and making three 3-pointers in the first half and six for the game. He finished with a team-high 24 points on 9-of-11 shooting.

“Lucas McCullough, that’s as well as anybody’s probably played against us almost the whole year. He hit a couple shots with hands in his face,” Benter said. “We gave up three 3s in the first half that I didn’t think we defended very well. The mentality that we had was, ‘Oh, it’s early in the game, no big deal,’ but it is a big deal. I would have loved to have those three points back late in the game.”

For every Brownstown basket in the third quarter, Orleans had an answer. The Braves couldn’t make a run, and they trailed by as many as 14 points throughout the quarter. McCullough made two more 3s and a 2-point basket and three other Orleans players scored, and the Bulldogs took a 41-52 lead into the fourth quarter.

That’s when the Braves people have been accustomed to seeing all year showed up. Brett McCory started and ended the Braves’ 11-3 run to open the quarter. The first of his two 3s at 7:19 started the run, and a spin move to the basket in transition at 5:38 pulled Brownstown within 55-52.

After an Orleans timeout, McCullough responded with a drive to the basket. The Bulldogs got the lead back up to eight twice, the last following Damion Gaddis’ free throws at 1:39.

Brownstown pulled within three and four points a few times in the fourth, and the Braves managed to outscore the Bulldogs 28-23. But they missed several shot attempts in the final minute of play and couldn’t capitalize on an Orleans turnover, and the Bulldogs made free throws to seal it.

“We put a lot of pressure on them in the fourth quarter, and there were several times I thought we were really close to turning them over and just didn’t quite get it,” Benter said. “We put ourselves in position there late in the game. But we cut it to three and miss a blockout, then we cut it to four twice and missed two open 3s.”

Benter was happy with the team’s energy in the fourth quarter, but he said, “I thought (the Bulldogs) consistently played harder than us the first three quarters. They were patient, they moved the ball, they got good shots and they made shots.”

Snodgrass finished with a game-high 26 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter, and McCory and Payton each had 13 points and five rebounds.

After McCullough’s 24 points, Bradley had 19 and Gaddis 14 as the Bulldogs improved to 15-6.

The Braves (19-2) will now turn their attention to Wednesday’s sectional game against Silver Creek at Salem. They will try and avenge their only other loss of the season, 72-63 on Jan. 13 on the Dragons’ court.

At Orleans

Brownstown 14 11 16 28—69

Orleans 17 17 18 23—75

Brownstown Central (19-2): Trey DeHart 1-3 0-2 2, Jalen Snodgrass 9-19 3-5 26, Brett McCory 5-11 0-0 13, Chase Klinge 1-1 1-2 3, Skylar Thompson 3-5 0-0 7, Tanner Payton 5-7 3-3 13, Kyle Wischmeier 2-4 0-0 5, Chaz Schneider 0-2 0-0 0, Wade Toppe 0-0 0-0 0, totals 26-52 7-12 69

Orleans (15-6): Tommy Mitchell 2-4 3-4 7, Trey Bradley 4-6 11-12 19, Andrew Johnson 3-6 1-2 8, Damion Gaddis 5-7 4-6 14, Bryan Moldrem 1-1 1-3 3, Lucas McCullough 9-11 0-0 24, Jarrett Jones 0-1 0-0 0, Kyle Bostic 0-0 0-0 0, Cale Hall 0-0 0-0 0, totals 24-36 20-27 75

3-point goals: Brownstown Central (Snodgrass 5, McCory 3, Thompson, Wischmeier), Orleans (McCullough 6, Johnson)

Rebounds: Brownstown Central 23 (Payton 5, McCory 5), Orleans 19 (Gaddis 5, McCullough 4, Moldrem 4)

Turnovers: Brownstown Central 8, Orleans 9

Junior varsity

Brownstown 9 6 6 14—35

Orleans 15 6 7 4—32

The Brownstown Central Braves trailed Eastern (Pekin) 31-30 at halftime of Friday’s final Mid-Southern Conference game of the season. The game went back-and-forth the entire first half, and neither team could put together a run.

Coming out in the second half, though, the Braves applied some full-court pressure, and it paid off. They created some turnovers and went on a 6-0 run, and they later put together a short spurt to pull ahead 54-44 going into the fourth.

They outscored the Musketeers 24-13 in the third quarter and 17-12 in the fourth for a 71-56 victory. The Braves finished 8-1 in the MSC, placing them at the top with Clarksville and Sliver Creek. It’s the third straight MSC crown for Brownstown.

Tanner Payton, a 6-foot-3 junior, was a force for the Braves in the third, scoring 13 of the team’s points.

“It was huge,” Payton said of the team’s effort that created some separation at the start of the second half. “All year, we’ve been getting most of our points in transition, so we just got the ball in transition and got easy buckets.”

When the Braves got in gear, they remained in control.

“It’s a lot easier to play,” Payton said. “Momentum will get going and everyone starts to think everything’s going better. Everyone’s more relaxed. We’re just playing ball then.”

Jalen Snodgrass’ second 3-pointer of the game at 5:35 of the first quarter gave Brownstown an 8-3 edge. The teams then traded baskets before Eastern scored seven straight for a 12-10 edge. The score was tied at 12 and 15 before Brett McCory’s feed to Skylar Thompson in the paint gave Brownstown a 17-15 lead at 1:08.

Eastern, though, scored the final four points for a two-point lead through one quarter.

There were two lead changes and four ties in the second quarter. Eastern’s lead reached four on Tyler Duncan’s score at 4:37, but Brownstown went on an 8-2 run for a 28-26 lead. The teams were knotted at 28 and 30, and then R.J. Jackson went 1 of 2 at the line with seven seconds to go, giving Eastern a 31-30 edge at the break.

“Eastern played a lot harder than us in the first half,” Braves coach Dave Benter said. “They rebounded the ball better. We just weren’t very sharp defensively…Kind of like Floyd (Central) did (on Tuesday night), they were the more physical, more aggressive team in the first half, and our guys have got to learn you can’t just turn it on and off when you want to. You’ve got to be ready to play right from the start.”

The Braves turned it on to start the second half, though.

After Drew Logue’s putback gave the Musketeers a 35-34 lead at 5:55, Snodgrass started the Braves on a 6-0 run, forcing Eastern into a timeout. Payton later had two free throws and Snodgrass assisted McCory inside for a seven-point lead at 2:10.

Following an Eastern score, Payton knocked down a 3 at the top of the key and shortly after made a basket inside and was fouled. He didn’t convert the three-point play, but the Braves led 51-41 at that point. Each team then nailed a 3-pointer, with Chaz Schneider’s at the buzzer making it 54-44 going into the fourth.

The Musketeers pulled within six at 6:41 of the fourth quarter, but the Braves didn’t allow them to get any closer.

“I thought our energy level for most of the second half was much, much better than it was in the first half,” Benter said. “Tanner was great in the front of the press when he went up there. I thought he was active for most of the night, and I thought our big guys were pretty active.”

Payton finished with a game-high 20 points, while McCory had 19, Snodgrass had 15 and Thompson had nine points and a game-high seven rebounds.

Jackson led the Musketeers (7-12 overall, 2-7 MSC) with 17 points off the bench, and three starters were in double figures.

The Braves, ranked fifth in Class 3A, improved to 19-1 overall and will close the regular season on Friday at Orleans.

Benter was glad to see the team pick up a share of the MSC crown.

At Pekin

Varsity

Brownstown 17 13 24 17—71

Eastern 19 12 13 12—56

Brownstown Central (19-1): Trey DeHart 1-2 0-0 2, Jalen Snodgrass 5-14 3-4 15, Brett McCory 7-11 4-4 19, Tanner Payton 6-6 7-9 20, Skylar Thompson 4-6 0-0 9, Chase Klinge 0-0 3-4 3, Chaz Schneider 1-2 0-0 3, Wade Toppe 0-0 0-0 0, Kyle Wischmeier 0-1 0-0 0, totals 24-42 17-21 71

Eastern (Pekin) (7-12): Trey Albertson 1-7 2-3 4, Curtis Howard 3-8 2-2 11, Drew Logue 5-9 2-2 12, Tevin Wolf 0-1 0-0 0, Cody Hurst 4-9 1-4 10, Tyler Duncan 1-1 0-0 2, R.J. Jackson 4-6 8-9 17, Chris Daugherty 0-0 0-0 0, Shane Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Austin Churchman 0-0 0-0 0, Matt Pickerill 0-0 0-0 0, totals 18-41 15-20 56

3-point goals: Brownstown Central (Snodgrass 2, McCory, Payton, Thompson, Schneider), Eastern (Pekin) (Howard 3, Hurst, Jackson)

Rebounds: Brownstown Central 18 (Thompson 7, Snodgrass 4), Eastern (Pekin) 20 (Logue 5, Hurst 5)

Turnovers: Brownstown Central 9, Eastern (Pekin) 14

Junior varsity

Brownstown 8 7 11 16—42

Eastern 11 4 10 7—32

Jalen Snodgrass led Brownstown by going 14 of 15 from the foul line, all in the second half, while the Braves went 19 of 22 overall. That’s compared to the Highlanders’ 13-of-28 performance.

In the end, that made a big difference as Class 3A No. 5 Brownstown eked out a 63-62 win.

The Braves had a 10-point lead with 3:07 remaining in the third quarter when Brett McCory hit his second 3-pointer of the half.

They, however, then went into a lull.

The Highlanders scored the final seven points of the quarter to pull within 48-45, and they opened the fourth quarter with the first six points to regain the lead.

The teams traded baskets for a few possessions until Snodgrass made his first two free throws of the fourth quarter at 2:58 for a 54-53 lead. The Braves never lost the lead from there, and Snodgrass went 9 of 10 from the line to help his team pull off a win.

His final two foul shots at eight seconds gave Brownstown a 63-59 advantage before Connor Schellenberg nailed a 3 in the closing seconds, but the Highlanders were out of timeouts.

“That was the difference in the game. We made our free throws, they didn’t,” Braves coach Dave Benter said. “That’s why we were fortunate enough to win.”

Throughout the game, he added, Floyd Central seemed more aggressive on both ends of the court.

That was evident from the start. Schellenberg, one of the team’s seven seniors, fed off of the Senior Night festivities before the game and scored 10 of the Highlanders’ 15 points in the first quarter. He had a putback off of a teammate’s missed free throw and was fouled, and he completed the three-point play for a 13-4 lead.

After a Brownstown turnover, Jordan Thompson scored on a second-chance basket for an 11-point lead. That forced Benter to call his second timeout of the quarter.

To Benter’s delight, the Braves responded with 11 straight points to make it 15-all through one quarter. Snodgrass nailed a 3 at the top of the key to start the run, and Tanner Payton knocked down two free throws in the closing second to cap it off.

“They were just more physical than us,” Benter said of the start of the game. “They were really aggressive coming out from the start, and our guys weren’t ready to play and weren’t physical enough early in the game. They were pushing us around, and we just weren’t handling it very well.”

The timeout apparently helped.

“I said, ‘They will come back to us if we will come out and start being the aggressor and start being more physical,’” Benter said, “and our guys did from that point on.”

The only exception, he said, was after the Braves built their 10-point lead in the third quarter and had a scoring lull to allow the Highlanders to get back in the game.

“We quit attacking, we started settling for jump shots, and that’s great if they are going in, and they weren’t going in at that time,” he said. “We need to learn from that, but it’s good to get out of here with a win. I thought Floyd did some really nice things tonight, too, except make their free throws.”

Snodgrass boosted the Braves, hitting his first three shots of the second quarter and scoring 12 in the period, and then piling on the free throws in the second half to finish with a game-high 31 points. He was the only Brave to reach double figures.

“He hit some shots and got it going,” Benter said of Snodgrass. “I didn’t think he played well in the first quarter, but he came out in the second quarter and got us back in the game.”

Schellenberg led the Highlanders (8-12) with 27 points on 11-of-19 shooting, but he was 3 of 7 from the foul line. Quinton Miller came off the bench and contributed 15, and Thompson added 11.

On Friday night, the Braves (18-1) will travel to Pekin to play Eastern in their final Mid-Southern Conference game. With a win, Brownstown would have at least a share of the MSC crown.

Box score

At Floyds Knobs

Varsity

Brownstown 15 19 14 15—63

Floyd Central 15 15 15 17—62

Brownstown Central (18-1): Trey DeHart 0-1 0-0 0, Jalen Snodgrass 7-19 14-15 31, Brett McCory 3-7 0-1 8, Tanner Payton 1-4 5-6 8, Skylar Thompson 4-7 0-0 9, Kyle Wischmeier 1-1 0-0 3, Wade Toppe 0-0 0-0 0, Chase Klinge 1-1 0-0 2, Chaz Schneider 1-2 0-0 2, totals 18-42 19-22 63

Floyd Central (8-12): Nick Bomersbach 3-5 0-1 7, Gavin O’Neal 1-2 0-1 2, Connor Schellenberg 11-19 3-7 27, Shane Missi 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan Thompson 3-6 5-11 11, Quinton Miller 5-6 5-8 15, Ted Hartog 0-1 0-0 0, Drew Hussung 0-1 0-0 0, Tanner Wortham 0-0 0-0 0, totals 23-40 13-28 62

3-point goals: Brownstown Central (Snodgrass 3, McCory 2, Payton, Thompson, Wischmeier), Floyd Central (Schellenberg 2, Bomersbach)

Rebounds: Brownstown Central 21 (Thompson 6, McCory 4), Floyd Central 28 (Thompson 10, Schellenberg 7)

Turnovers: Brownstown Central 11, Floyd Central 15

Fouls: Brownstown Central 21 (fouled out: DeHart, Thompson), Floyd Central 18

Junior varsity

Brownstown 11 9 16 5—41

Floyd Central 16 6 9 5—36

FC’s Schellenberg pours in 27 on Senior Night

Sawyer hit five of his six shot attempts in the first quarter, and the Tigers were only down 15-13 after eight minutes of play.

But in the second and third quarters, Brownstown juniors Skylar Thompson and Brett McCory hit a hot streak from behind the arc. That helped the Braves gain some big separation, going from leading 35-21 at halftime to 61-31 entering the fourth quarter, and they went on to claim a 77-43 victory in the Jackson County matchup.

“I thought we played with a lot of energy, but we had a tough time stopping Sawyer in the first quarter,” Braves coach Dave Benter said. “Then, in the second quarter, we held him scoreless, so that was huge for us to defensively hold him scoreless. And then any time you make the number of shots that we made, Skylar in the second quarter and Brett in the third quarter, you can get separation quick when you’re making that many 3s in that quick of time.”

After Sawyer’s first-quarter outburst, he only shot 3 of 17 from the field in the final three quarters.

“He had it going a little bit in the first quarter and came out and played really well for us,” Tigers coach Clint Waskom said of Sawyer. “(Brownstown) made some adjustments on the defensive end the second quarter, but I thought that the biggest thing is that we lost their shooters. Brownstown is a very good team and they put five guys on the floor most of the time that can step out behind the 3-point line and knock down an open shot, and that’s exactly what happened.”

Sawyer’s third field goal of the first quarter put the Tigers on top 7-4 at 5:12, but McCory’s first of six 3-pointers on the night at 3:45 evened the score at 7. Sawyer returned the lead to Crothersville, and then Brownstown responded with five straight.

The Braves led by two after one quarter, and the final tie of the game came at the 7-minute mark when Sawyer found Bradley Gabbard in the paint for a 15-15 score. Brownstown then made a statement with a 9-0 run, which included a jumper by Tanner Payton, a putback by Thompson, a steal and a layup by Trey DeHart and a 3 by DeHart.

Gabbard’s putback at 4:50 ended the run and made it a seven-point game, but Thompson hit a pair of 3-pointers from the left wing, bookending a basket by Ryan Gabbard. Thompson’s second 3 gave the Braves a 30-19 advantage at 4:08, and they led 35-21 at halftime.

Brownstown continued its hot streak, scoring the first five points of the second half. McCory was whistled for his third foul at 4:26 of the third and only had five points at that time, but soon after, he re-entered the game and made four straight 3-pointers for his own 12-0 run. His fourth made it 57-27 at 1:22.

The Tigers only managed to score four straight in the third and five straight in the fourth, but they couldn’t extend those runs to make any kind of comeback.

The biggest difference in the second half was Brownstown shooting 15 of 29 from the field, including five 3-pointers, to Crothersville’s 9 of 25. Sawyer hit a long 3 1:10 into the fourth quarter for the Tigers’ only connection from long range, while the Braves nailed 11 treys.

Besides getting to be in the starting lineup to open the game, the highlight of the night for the four Brownstown seniors was in the fourth quarter when they were all back in the game together. Their strong defensive showing led to offense, and when Benter took them out of the game, they received a standing ovation.

“We all came together and figured we better go out with a bang,” said Wade Toppe, one of the Braves’ seniors. “We’ve been together since third- and fourth-grade AAU teams, played each other in middle school and came together in high school. We’ve been pretty close…the four of us that have stuck with it have really gotten closer as we kept going.”

Toppe and fellow senior Kyle Wischmeier finished with two points apiece, and Toppe grabbed four rebounds. As for the other seniors, DeHart had five points and Jalen Snodgrass tallied seven.

“I’ve had some really good classes here, and they are right up there with them,” Benter said. “They really don’t care whether they are out scoring 25 points or whether they are scoring two points, and that’s shown in the win-loss column over the four years that they’ve contributed.

“Three of them don’t score a whole lot and don’t get a whole lot of recognition,” he added, “and in today’s society, there’s not a lot of kids willing to do that, and I really admire those guys for how unselfish they are and how well they represent our program.”

McCory led all scorers with 24 points on 8-of-8 shooting from the field, including six 3s, and 2 of 2 from the free-throw line, while Thompson had 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting, including three 3s, and two free throws. Thompson made it a double-double with a team-high 12 rebounds.

Sawyer led the Tigers with 18 points, while Bradley Gabbard contributed 13 points and 13 rebounds.

“Brownstown is a good rebounding team, and they were able to clean up a couple misses and finish the shots in there,” said Waskom, whose team was edged 28-27 in rebounds. “But I thought Bradley was very active on the offensive glass for us…I was very pleased with him battling us back a little bit and finally getting back and getting in the flow of things. I was very pleased with how he played.”

Class 3A No. 8 Brownstown extended its winning streak to seven and will take a 17-1 record into Tuesday’s game at Floyd Central, while Crothersville is 13-5 heading into the Feb. 17 Southern Athletic Conference finale at home against Lanesville.

Box score

At Brownstown

Varsity

Crothersville 13 8 10 12—43

Brownstown 15 20 26 16—77

Brownstown Central (17-1): Trey DeHart 2-3 0-0 5, Wade Toppe 1-2 0-0 2, Kyle Wischmeier 1-3 0-0 2, Jalen Snodgrass 3-11 1-1 7, Brett McCory 8-8 2-2 24, Skylar Thompson 8-10 2-4 21, Tanner Payton 3-7 3-5 9, Chase Klinge 1-2 0-0 2, Chaz Schneider 1-3 0-0 3, Kory Kovert 0-0 0-0 0, Austin Snodgrass 1-2 0-0 2, Collin DeHart 0-1 0-0 0, totals 29-52 8-12 77

Crothersville (13-5): Joe Sawyer 8-23 1-1 18, Scott Schuerman 0-4 0-0 0, Jarrod Royalty 1-3 2-4 4, Ryan Gabbard 4-7 0-0 8, Mathew Lucas 0-0 0-2 0, Bradley Gabbard 6-11 1-2 13, Aaron Wilp 0-1 0-0 0, totals 19-49 4-9 43

3-point goals: Brownstown Central (McCory 6, Thompson 3, T. DeHart, Schneider), Crothersville (Sawyer)

Rebounds: Brownstown Central 28 (Thompson 12, McCory 6), Crothersville 27 (B. Gabbard 13, Lucas 5)

Turnovers: Brownstown Central 6, Crothersville 11

Fouls: Brownstown Central 11, Crothersville 9

Junior varsity

Crothersville 6 6 4 6—22

Brownstown 11 19 17 10—57

Brownstown Central (12-3): Schneider 12, Kovert 10, C. DeHart 9, Drew Shoemaker 9, A. Snodgrass 5, Jon Powers 5, Mitchell Grider 5, Sam Butt 2

Tribune photo by Arv Koontz Brownstown Central sophomore Chase Klinge tries to drive past Paoli's Tanner Wroblewski in the first half of Saturday night's game. Klinge helped the Braves win 75-48 and improve to 16-1.

 

When coach Dave Benter looked over the statistics following Brownstown Central’s homecoming game against Paoli on Saturday night, two statistics stood out: Assists and turnovers.

“Twenty-seven assists and four turnovers is what our stat sheet had us for,” he said. “Our ball movement was unselfish tonight, really, really good. Jalen (Snodgrass) only made two shots in the first half, but he saw the floor and found guys, and I thought Tanner Payton had the best game of his career.”

Payton scored 22 points and Snodgrass 20 to spark the Braves to a 75-48 win over the Rams.

Skylar Thompson’s three-point play at 4:59 gave the Braves a 9-5 lead, and he finished with seven points in the first quarter. Brett McCory’s second layup of the quarter helped the Braves to a 15-11 lead.

The Braves came out hot at the start of the second period when McCory and Payton scored inside and Chaz Schneider and Snodgrass drilled 3-pointers to make it a 25-11 game at the 5:20 mark.

Brownstown was leading 27-17 before Payton added a free throw and a basket, Snodgrass made a layup and Schneider added another 3 for an 8-0 run and a 35-17 lead at the half.

Snodgrass opened the second half-scoring with a jump shot in the lane and a 3-pointer, increasing the Braves’ lead to 40-17. Payton had four baskets and a pair of free throws and Snodgrass had seven points as the Braves built their lead to 58-32 after three quarters.

Snodgrass added a pair of 3-pointers and a deuce in the final quarter when Brownstown outscored Paoli 17-16.

Payton finished with 9-for-10 shooting from the floor, and he had six rebounds.

“He scored the ball,” Benter said of Payton, “but he also distributed the ball and he rebounded. He passed the ball really well.”

Payton said, “I felt like I had more confidence tonight, really. I don’t know what got into me. That (Silver Creek loss on Jan. 13) was a big wake-up call for us, losing one game, and I think we figured out what we have to work on, and we figured it out in practice and we’re utilizing it now. We can’t slow down. We’ve got a couple more games, and we can’t look past them until sectional. We can’t coast.”

Benter said he was concerned his team might come out flat following Friday’s Mid-Southern Conference win at Clarksville.

“I was really concerned after the big win (Friday) night that we’d come back and not play with energy,” he said, “but I thought we came out and played with a lot of energy and moved the ball really well, and the second half, we started hitting shots.”

The Braves shot 15 for 29 in the first half and 14 for 23 in the second half, while the Rams were 17 of 45 for the game.

Tanner Wroblewski topped the Rams (7-8) with 15 points and eight rebounds, and Aaron Key added 14 points.

“We pressured (Wroblewski) at times,” Benter said. “He got loose a little bit in the second half and started scoring. I thought our pressure hurt him a little bit, but he’s obviously a good player. I thought (Aaron) Key came out in the second half and gave us some problems.

“For the most part, I thought we guarded the 3-point line, and in the first half, we rebounded the ball really well,” he added. “We went zone (in the second quarter) and they got in on us a couple times, but our man-to-man did a really nice job of not letting the ball come in quite so easily.”

The Braves have won four straight since the loss at Silver Creek and are 16-1.

“The last two weeks have been really encouraging,” Benter said. “We didn’t play so well for about a two-week stretch, and part of it was we weren’t hitting shots, and I thought we let that affect our energy. But we’ve come back and we’ve had stretches during games the last two weeks where we haven’t shot the ball well, but we continue to play with energy, and good teams do that.

“The constants are defense, rebounding and taking care of the ball, and nights you make shots, you’re going to win, and nights you don’t make shots, you still give yourself a chance to win, and our guys have got to understand that,” he added. “We’ve played with energy and we’ve made shots at different times in the last four games.”

Box score

At Brownstown

Varsity

Paoli 11 6 15 16—48

Brownstown 15 20 23 17—75

Brownstown Central (16-1): Trey DeHart 1-4 1-2 3, Jalen Snodgrass 8-16 0-0 20, Brett McCory 3-7 0-0 6, Tanner Payton 9-10 4-6 22, Skylar Thompson 3-5 3-3 9, Chaz Schneider 3-3 0-0 9, Wade Toppe 1-2 1-2 3, Chase Klinge 1-2 0-2 2, Kyle Wischmeier 0-3 0-0 0, Collin DeHart 0-0 1-2 1, Austin Snodgrass 0-0 0-0 0, Kory Kovert 0-0 0-0 0, totals 29-52 10-17 75

Paoli (7-8): Clay Burnette 1-7 2-4 4, Aaron Key 6-8 2-5 14, Trevor Axsom 1-4 0-0 3, Colton Phelps 2-4 0-3 5, Breck Eubank 0-3 2-2 2, Tanner Wroblewski 5-15 3-3 15, Ben Bosley 2-2 1-2 5, Skylar Stroud 0-2 0-0 0, totals 17-45 10-19 48

3-point goals: Brownstown Central (Snodgrass 4, Schneider 3), Paoli (Wroblewski 2, Axsom, Phelps)

Rebounds: Brownstown Central 28 (Payton 6, Klinge 5), Paoli 24 (Wroblewski 8, Key 6)

Turnovers: Brownstown Central 4, Paoli 15

Fouls: Brownstown Central 21 (fouled out: McCory), Paoli 17

Junior varsity

Paoli 4 6 0 9—19

Brownstown 9 8 7 13—37

CLARKSVILLE — This winter, Jalen Snodgrass has proven himself to be a pivotal player for the Brownstown Central Braves.

On Friday night, in a crucial Mid-Southern Conference game at Clarksville, the 5-foot-10 senior guard worked his magic again.

With 11 points in the first half but his team trailing 26-25 at halftime, Snodgrass scored 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting and made all three of his free throws in a third quarter that featured five ties and five lead changes.

Tanner Payton’s putback at the buzzer gave Brownstown a 45-43 lead going into the fourth quarter. Clarksville managed to tie the game once but never retook the lead, and Snodgrass went 10 of 12 from the free-throw line to lift his team to a 66-62 win. Snodgrass tallied a game-high 36 points, two shy of tying his season high.

That gave Clarksville its first loss of the season and first loss in the MSC. The Braves are now at the top with a 7-1 mark, while the Generals are second at 6-1.

Making those free throws in the fourth quarter wasn’t easy, Snodgrass said.

“You couldn’t hear each other talk out there. Their crowd was insane,” he said of the Generals’ fan base, which were all clad in white for white-out night. “You couldn’t hear yourself think. It was so loud, so we had to quiet them down a little bit before we could do anything.”

Every shot Snodgrass made in the third quarter gave the Braves the lead, and even getting fouled on a 3-point attempt and making all three free throws at 2:37 gave Brownstown a 41-39 edge. After Clarksville evened the score at 41 and 43, Payton’s putback gave the Braves a small edge.

Jake Hartlage tipped in his own miss just 30 seconds into the fourth for the 12th tie of the game, but that would be the final tie. Brett McCory had a nice over-the-shoulder pass for a back-door layup by Chase Klinge at 5:22 and Trey DeHart stole the ball on the Generals’ next possession and assisted McCory on a score.

The Generals were forced to call a timeout, and the Braves never relinquished the lead from there.

Snodgrass’ only missed free throws of the fourth quarter with 52 seconds to go came in between a steal and a layup by Aidan McEwen and Billy Edelen’s 3-pointer, which fired up the Clarksville crowd.

Snodgrass, though, remained calm at the line down the stretch, making his final six.

“It was nuts. It feels like the gym’s shaking on you,” he said of the fourth. But what helped, he added, is “I’ve been in the big games and I know how to play in clutch situations, and I think that’s what helped me a lot, experience.”

Braves coach Dave Benter lauded Snodgrass’ performance.

“He’s really difficult to guard and put so much pressure on them, and he saw the floor,” Benter said. “Not only did he score the ball well, he saw the floor well and got the ball where it needed to go. We depend on him so much to generate offense. We had a lot of different guys make big plays, but obviously Jalen had a fantastic game.”

The first half was just as close as much of the second half. There were three ties in the first quarter and neither team led by more than three until Snodgrass’ turnaround jumper at 1:15 gave Brownstown a 14-10 lead. McEwen’s jumper from the free-throw line just 13 seconds later, though, made it 14-12, and that score held until the start of the second quarter.

Skylar Thompson’s putback at 6:29 of the second quarter broke a 14-all tie, and Brownstown held the lead until Billy Edelen made a pair of free throws and a 3-pointer a minute apart for a 26-23 lead with one minute to go in the half. He scored 10 of his 15 points in the second quarter, and the Generals led 26-25 at the break.

In the second half, the difference for the Braves was shooting 10 of 20 from the field and 18 of 23 from the foul line and only committing two turnovers. The Generals shot 14 of 25 from the field, but only got to the line five times and turned the ball over six times.

The Braves had a six-point lead with three minutes to go in the game, but Benter realized the Generals wouldn’t back down.

“We got satisfied for a possession, and they went down and showed us what happens when you get satisfied,” he said. “They drove in and got a three-point play, but then we called a timeout and came out and Jalen got to the foul line, and he ended up kind of putting us on his back there the last two and a half minutes.”

The other Brave scoring in double figures was McCory with 12 points.

Edelen scored 18 points off the bench and led the Generals (14-1), while McEwen had 15 points and a game-high nine rebounds.

“I thought Tanner Payton defended exceptionally against Aidan McEwen, and I thought Chase Klinge came in and did a nice job when he was on Aidan,” Benter said.

The Braves’ only conference loss was 72-63 on Jan. 13 at Silver Creek, but with Friday’s win, they are still in contention for the title.

“Even after the loss, I said we still control our own destiny,” Benter said. “We’re not there yet. We’ve got to go and beat an Eastern team on the road (on Feb. 17) that’s playing well, but I was really proud of our guys (on Friday). That was a really good basketball team that we beat tonight.”

Tonight, the Braves will play host to Paoli. The homecoming ceremony will take place at halftime.

Box score

Varsity

Brownstown 14 11 20 21—66

Clarksville 12 14 17 19—62

Brownstown Central (15-1): Trey DeHart 0-4 1-2 1, Jalen Snodgrass 10-18 13-15 36, Brett McCory 4-10 2-5 12, Tanner Payton 4-9 1-2 9, Skylar Thompson 2-3 2-2 6, Chase Klinge 1-3 0-0 2, Chaz Schneider 0-1 0-0 0, Wade Toppe 0-0 0-0 0, Kyle Wischmeier 0-0 0-0 0, Kory Kovert 0-0 0-0 0, Austin Snodgrass 0-0 0-0 0, Collin DeHart 0-0 0-0 0, totals 21-48 19-26 66

Clarksville (14-1): Calvin McEwen 3-8 2-3 9, Jake Hartlage 3-10 2-2 8, Austin Johnson 2-3 0-0 4, Wes Rittman 2-6 4-4 8, Aidan McEwen 7-13 1-2 15, Billy Edelen 5-11 4-4 18, Jeremy Noe 0-0 0-0 0, totals 22-51 13-15 62

3-point goals: Brownstown Central (J. Snodgrass 3, McCory 2), Clarksville (Edelen 4, C. McEwen)

Rebounds: Brownstown Central 27 (McCory 5, T. DeHart 4, Payton 4, Thompson 4), Clarksville 31 (A. McEwen 9, Rittman 5)

Turnovers: Brownstown Central 5, Clarksville 8

Junior varsity

Brownstown 6 8 12 9—35

Clarksville 11 6 4 11—32

CORYDON — Brownstown Central maintained a lead over Corydon Central through a majority of the first half of Saturday night’s game.

A Brownstown turnover in the closing seconds and an ensuing three-point play by Brayden Lander, however, cut the Braves’ lead to 31-26 at halftime.

Corydon could have carried that momentum into the second half, but Brownstown wasn’t going to let that happen.

After knocking down five 3-pointers in the first half, the Class 3A No. 9 Braves added four more in the third quarter and outscored the Panthers 20-11 behind runs of 5-0 and 9-0, and then scored the first nine points of the fourth quarter en route to a 65-47 victory.

The Braves went 3-0 from Tuesday to Saturday in MSC games, winning all three by double figures. They improved to 14-1 overall and 6-1 in the MSC.

“Probably finishing our shots and just help-side defense and being able to help each other out and closing up,” sophomore guard Chase Klinge said of the difference for the Braves in the second half, when they had a 34-21 scoring advantage.

“I think our defensive pressure helped create turnovers and score some points for us,” said Klinge, who finished with four points, five rebounds and four assists. “And our shooters were ready to shoot and put down a lot of shots for us. We didn’t have too many turnovers, and we did a pretty good job creating. Whenever we get (the shooters) the ball, they are ready to hit. That always helps.”

Lander made a 3 and a jumper on turnovers by the Braves in the first quarter for a 7-5 lead, but Skylar Thompson’s strong move to the basket at 3:48 started the Braves on an 11-0 run. Jalen Snodgrass’ second 3-pointer of the quarter at 1:40 capped the run, and Dylan Jensen scored the final three points of the quarter to pull Corydon within 16-10 after one.

Snodgrass’ steal and layup at 4:49 of the second quarter gave Brownstown a 26-18 lead, but Lander came through for Corydon again with a 3 and a pull-up jumper, forcing a Brave timeout.

The Braves regained focus with Trey DeHart’s second 3 of the quarter and Klinge’s assist to Thompson for a 31-23 lead with 54 seconds remaining in the half. Brownstown’s eighth turnover of the half with six seconds remaining, though, was converted into a three-point play by Lander.

“I thought we played hard,” Braves coach Dave Benter said of the first half. “I just thought (the Panthers) hurt us in transition a little bit, and I didn’t think we rotated in our zone quite quick enough a couple times. Those were my two main concerns. They probably got half of their points in those two ways.”

So at halftime, a big message was to take care of the ball in the second half.

Just 1:13 into the second half, Brett McCory stole the ball and took it all the way in for a layup and DeHart found Snodgrass for a 3, forcing the Panthers into a timeout. Thompson and DeHart nailed back-to-back 3s by the 4:46 mark for a 42-29 lead, and Corydon had to take another break.

The Braves shot 8 of 12 from the field in the third, including four 3s, and led 51-37 going into the final eight minutes.

Klinge had a putback, Tanner Payton scored inside, Snodgrass made two free throws and DeHart assisted McCory on a 3 for a 9-0 Brownstown run and a 60-37 lead just two minutes into the fourth.

“They were playing zone against us, so I was trying to drive the gaps and kick out, and (the shooters) were open in the corner,” Klinge said of the second half. “I thought we did a pretty good job. We got a lot of good shots inside and outside, didn’t force anything.”

The Braves shot 13 of 22 from the field in the second half and finished the game 24 of 48, while the Panthers went 6 of 20 in the second half and 17 of 43 for the game.

“In the second half, we took away their transition a little bit,” Benter said. “I thought we rebounded better, and our ball movement was really good the whole night. I thought we played really unselfishly on offense. Top to bottom, I thought we had a lot of guys play really well, and a couple guys came off the bench and played well.”

Snodgrass took game honors with 20 points, including five 3s, and seven rebounds, while Thompson chipped in 12 points and DeHart 11. The Braves finished with 11 3s to the Panthers’ two.

Lander led the Panthers (6-8 overall, 2-3 MSC) with 13 points, but he shot 0 of 3 in the second half. Bronson Kessinger, a 6-foot-6 freshman, had 12 points and a team-high six rebounds. Brownstown, though, won the battle of the boards 30-23.

CHARLESTOWN — Coach Dave Benter said it was good to see different players step up at different parts of Brownstown Central’s game on Friday night at Charlestown.

Skylar Thompson got the Braves’ offense rolling in the first period with 10 points to help his team to a 19-10 lead, Jalen Snodgrass hit three 3-pointers in the second period to help the Braves increase their lead to 38-18 at the half and the visitors went on to win the Mid-Southern Conference game 67-42.

Benter felt his team played well for most of the night.

“I told our team we had two stretches where we turned the ball over and didn’t defend real well, early in the second quarter and at times in the third quarter,” he said. “But if you take away those stretches where we didn’t turn it over and moved the ball, we were really efficient offensively.

“We’ve got a lot of guys that are capable of hitting shots, and we’ve just got to make sure we take care of the ball and don’t get so impatient at times,” Benter added. “We reversed the ball a couple times, and at some point, we usually get good shots and get guys in spots where they can make shots. We did that for probably three-fourths of the game tonight. Now, our goal is to stretch it out to a complete game.”

Thompson made a layup on Brownstown’s first possession of the game, and he followed up with an offensive rebound at 6:35 to put the Braves on top 4-0. When Snodgrass converted a three-point play at 2:18, the Braves’ lead increased to 13-4, and Thompson added a pair of free throws and his fourth basket of the period to spark the Braves to a 19-10 lead.

Thompson also had three rebounds in the period, and Benter said it was nice to see the 6-foot-4 junior have a nice offensive game.

“He had been struggling a little bit the last couple weeks, and it was really nice to see him get going in the first quarter. That gave us a huge lift,” Benter said. “When he plays that way, it completely changes the dynamics of our team. Hopefully, it’s a sign of things to come. He gives us an inside scorer and he can be a really good rebounder at times, and hopefully that gets him going and gives him some confidence.”

Thompson said his teammates were getting him the ball where he was able to get off good shots.

“I was just looking to get inside and try to cause some mismatches for the guards outside,” he said. “When I got the ball down there when I was open, I felt like I could score, but mainly, I was just trying to get open and get other people open and get some shots for them. In the past couple games, I hadn’t been doing very good, but tonight was a big step forward to get back on track where I need to go and actually play to my ability.”

Snodgrass hit a 3 from the right wing to increase the Braves’ lead to 24-12 at 6:35 of the second period. The Braves committed six fouls in the second period, but the Pirates only made 6 of 12 free throws to close the difference to 24-18 with 5:05 on the clock.

Snodgrass hit a pair of 3s as the Braves closed the half on a 14-0 run and led 38-18 at the break.

The Braves shot 13 for 25 in the first half and 24 for 45 for the game. At the line, they were 10 for 11, while the Pirates were 12 of 21.

The teams traded points throughout the third quarter, with the Pirates holding a 16-14 advantage. Brett McCory and Wade Toppe made 3-pointers in the middle of the period, and Snodgrass closed the scoring in the quarter with a layup for a 52-34 score going into the final period.

Brownstown continued to dominate in the fourth period, and a 3-pointer by Snodgrass gave the Braves their biggest lead of the game, 65-38, with 3:50 remaining.

Snodgrass topped the Braves with 26 points, McCory had 13 points and eight rebounds and Thompson finished with 10 points and six rebounds.

Benter said his team couldn’t afford to let up because Charlestown has some skilled athletes and is capable of mounting a comeback.

“They’ve got the capability to spread you out,” he said. “They’ve got a lot of guys that are athletic and can beat you off dribble penetration. There were times I thought we did a really good job (defensively) and there were other times I thought we opened up and let guys get to the basket. They’ve got good players that are capable of doing that.

“They hurt us in those two stretches where we didn’t play well,” he added, “but other than that, the only thing that hurt us was (Kendall) Thompson getting to the offensive glass.”

Thompson topped the Pirates (6-8 overall, 1-4 MSC) with 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Aaron Daniel scored 12.

The Braves are 5-1 in the MSC and 13-1 overall heading into tonight’s conference game at Corydon Central.

BROWNSTOWN — It was just one of those nights for the Brownstown Central Braves on Tuesday.

Shots that normally fall weren’t going in, and the Braves missed several layups.

They were lucky, though, that the same thing was happening to Austin in the first half.

A short spurt in the third quarter helped Brownstown gain a little bit of space, and the Braves held off a determined Austin team 63-51 to improve to 12-1 overall and 4-1 in the Mid-Southern Conference.

“I just wanted to see us play with energy,” Braves coach Dave Benter said. “I thought our energy level was real low in the first half, and we’re fortunate Austin missed a couple shots that I think they normally can make. I just thought Austin played harder throughout the night.”

The first quarter mainly consisted of the teams trading baskets, and the score was tied three times. Skylar Thompson’s putback at 2:15 made it 11-all, and with 1:03 to go, Jalen Snodgrass made a pair of free throws for a two-point Brownstown lead going into the second quarter.

Christian Barrett scored for Austin 33 seconds into the second quarter, but Chaz Schneider’s pull-up 3-pointer in transition at 6:17 gave Brownstown the lead for the remainder of the half.

Trey DeHart’s free throw and ensuing bank shot off of an Eagle turnover gave the Braves a 24-15 edge with 3:23 remaining in the half. Austin, however, outscored the home team 6-2 to pull within 26-21 at halftime.

By the 5:21 mark of the third quarter, Brownstown was 0 of 4 from the field and Austin was 1 of 4 and had four turnovers. Snodgrass’ nice find of Tanner Payton at 5:07 was the Braves’ first made field goal of the second half.

DeHart missed a 3 but got his own rebound and passed to a teammate before ending up with the ball again and connecting from beyond the arc. That capped Brownstown’s 7-2 run for a 40-25 lead at 3:51.

Again, though, Austin finished strong, outscoring Brownstown 7-6 the rest of the third for a 46-32 score going into the fourth.

The Braves outscored the Eagles 20-11 in the third and forced nine turnovers, and DeHart had a pair of steals in the quarter.

“I was trying to bring some energy back because I know our defense leads to our offense,” DeHart said. “In the first half, we didn’t play real well on either side of the ball. We weren’t moving, we weren’t screening or cutting hard, so that hurt us on the defensive end, and that ended up hurting on the offensive end, too.”

Benter saw that energy return, as well. But from that point through the fourth quarter, he said, “It’s like we went back to the way we played in the first half. Dribble penetration killed us all night, our lack of rebounding killed us at times, our transition defense hurt us. You have nights where you miss layups and miss shots, and tonight was one of those nights.

“You’ve got to defend and rebound and take care of the ball and make good decisions,” he added, “and we sure didn’t defend or rebound as well as I think we’re capable of.”

The Eagles outscored the Braves 19-17 in the fourth. Kameron Draper made a pair of free throws at 1:18 for a 61-51 score. But in the final minute of the game, even though they trailed, the Eagles chose not to foul until 10 seconds was left on the clock, and Snodgrass closed the game’s scoring with two free throws.

“Take away that (third-quarter) run and it was a two- or four-point game,” Benter said. “(The Eagles) have got a lot of young guys and they came out and played with energy, and our guys just didn’t match that. That’s just really disappointing because we’ve got a lot more veterans that have played a lot more games than what they have. We’ve got to play with a greater sense of urgency with each possession than what we did tonight.”

Snodgrass led the Braves’ balanced attack with 19 points, while Brett McCory had 18 and DeHart tallied 11. Snodgrass and Thompson each had a game-high seven rebounds as the Braves had the 32-30 edge in that department.

Austin (4-10) also had balance with Draper scoring 13, Josh Vires 11 and Jeremiah White 10. The Eagles were coming off back-to-back three-point wins in overtime.

“They’ve got some great younger players coming up, and those guys are competitive. They were sure the more aggressive team tonight,” Benter said of Austin. Putting on a Brownstown uniform, he said, is “a privilege and (his players) need to play like that, play like it’s a privilege and not like they are entitled to that, and I thought we played like we were entitled tonight.

“We’re in a crucial stretch of conference games right now,” he added, “so we’re going to try to get some things corrected in the next couple days.”

Five couples took their chances at dancing their way into the hearts of all fans, but only one couple walked away with the trophy.

On the basketball court that night, the biggest star for the Brownstown Central Braves basketball team was Brett McCory, who danced all over Brown County for the tune of 24 points.

McCory hit from different spots on the floor and shot 10 of 15 for the game, helping the Braves get back in the win column with a 69-49 win over the Eagles.

“Brett has the ability to score, and he’s kind of a tough matchup,” Braves coach Dave Benter said. “He can go inside and outside, and I thought he got into early foul trouble but came back out and played with a sense of urgency. The thing that Brett can do for us is rebound. He has enough length where he can jump and the anticipation that he can rebound for us. Hopefully, this is a step in the right direction after last weekend.”

In the early going, the Braves and Eagles were stuck in a slow waltz and neither team could find any separation.

There were seven lead changes in the first six minutes, but the Braves’ Jalen Snodgrass knocked down a 3-pointer with 36 seconds left in the quarter for a 13-11 lead. The Eagles’ Quincy Robinson hit a basket with 1.6 seconds left for a 13-13 tie after one quarter.

Robinson then had an offensive rebound and a putback at 7:25 of the second quarter to give Brown County a 15-13 lead, but Chaz Schneider came off the bench and hit a 3-pointer for a 16-15 Brownstown lead. With the score tied at 18, Schneider connected on his second 3-pointer of the quarter for a 21-18 lead, and the Braves never lost the lead.

With the Braves leading 23-21, Snodgrass scored six straight points for a 29-21 halftime lead.

The 3s by Schneider and Snodgrass, Benter said, were “huge to get some separation at the half. Without those points, it’s probably tied at the half, and up until (Schneider) came in, it was a one- or two-point game.”

Tanner Payton collected an offensive rebound and scored a basket for a 31-23 lead. A minute later, McCory hit back-to-baskets for a 35-25 lead. The Braves outscored the Eagles 21-14 in the third quarter and led 50-35.

McCory scored 14 third-quarter points.

In the fourth quarter, the Eagles scored to make it 58-41, but the Braves went on a 9-0 run to give them their biggest lead of the game, 67-41. Skylar Thompson hit two free throws to start the streak and Schneider hit two free throws at the end of the streak, as Robinson scored for the Eagles.

“That team can cause us a lot of problems,” Benter said of the Eagles. “They’ve got size inside, athleticism and shooters on the perimeter, and in the first half, I thought we defended pretty well except for a couple of blockouts that gave them six second-chance points.

“We told them at halftime if we could shore that up and make a couple of shots, we would be good. I felt like we did that and played better in the second half. They are hard to guard, but our guys knew it wouldn’t be a 20-point lead at halftime, but was glad to have gotten the separation.”

The Braves won the battle of the boards 34-29, and Snodgrass led with seven.

Brown County’s Robinson had 21 points and 11 rebounds.

“They had a great game plan, and they knew they had size on us on the inside,” Benter said. “They were not going to shoot the ball unless (Robinson) got a touch. We were able to defend them pretty well, I thought, and try and frustrate them by how patient they were being.”

Brownstown (11-1) finished the game 26 of 50 from the floor and 10 of 15 from the foul line, while Brown County (3-8) was 19 of 56 from the field and 7 of 11 from the charity stripe.
After McCory led the way, Snodgrass added 13.

SELLERSBURG — In winning its first 10 games of the season, the Brownstown Central boys basketball team pretty much dominated its opponents.

The Braves won those games by an average of 27.9 points per game.

The only close call the Braves had was a 45-40 win over Barr-Reeve in the Graber Post Buildings Classic at North Daviess. The Braves won one game by 14, another by 15 and two by 17. The rest of their wins were by 20 or more points.

On Friday night, it was a different story, as Silver Creek put the pressure on Brownstown from the start by jumping on top 7-0, and the Dragons led all the way to hand the Class 3A No. 5 Braves their first loss of the season 72-63.

Silver Creek held a 52-46 lead entering the fourth period of the Mid-Southern Conference game. The teams traded points the first four minutes of the quarter for a 58-51 score. The Braves received two free throws from Jalen Snodgrass and a rebound basket by Tanner Payton to close the difference to 58-55 with 3:10 remaining, but that was as close as the visitors could get.

Later, the Dragons went on a 6-0 run to build their lead to 66-56 and improve their MSC record to 4-1 and leave the Braves 3-1.

The Braves finished with 21-for-46 shooting from the floor, but Braves coach Dave Benter said he didn’t feel his team worked for good shots in the second period when it made 6 of 15.

“When you get away (from running the offense) and taking bad shots and still win by 20, sometimes it’s hard for kids to realize that you’ve got to get that corrected,” Benter said.

“We only had 14 turnovers, but the big key was in the second quarter, we took at least five or six really questionable shots. That’s the same as a turnover. It’s giving the ball to the other team, so all of a sudden, we’re up to close to 20 possessions that we were empty on tonight.

“The other big key was, we just couldn’t get defensive rebounds at times when we needed to,” he added. Both teams had 25 rebounds, and Brett McCory led the Braves with 10.

The Braves had trouble getting their offense going, falling behind 7-0 before Trey DeHart hit a 3-point shot from the right wing at the 5-minute mark. The Dragons led 16-10 when the Braves scored their only back-to-back field goals of the quarter, by Kyle Wischmeier and Wade Toppe, to trail 16-14. The Dragons responded with a 6-0 run for a 22-14 lead.

The Dragons were led by Grant Meyer and Caleb Sprigler with 24 points and 22 points, respectively. Meyer had the hot hand early with three 3-pointers and 14 points in the opening period.

“Give credit to Silver Creek,” Benter said. “They came out and executed well. They’ve got great quickness top to bottom. They’re a great transition team. They put five guys on the floor that can score, and they’ve got guys that aren’t easy matchups.

“That pressure hurt us a little bit, and that sped us up a little bit and led us to making some bad decisions,” he added. “Our guys have to learn from that. We have to learn if we do play them again, that we’ve got to be a lot more disciplined and take care of the basketball.”

Payton scored five points and Snodgrass had two field goals as the Braves outscored the Dragons 13-12 in the second period to trail 34-27 at the half.

After DeHart buried his third 3-pointer of the game to set the score at 34-30 15 seconds into the third period, the Dragons went on a 6-0 run to build their lead to 40-30. The Dragons were leading 45-35 when the Braves put together their best rally of the night with Payton’s basket starting them on a 9-0 run. Wischmeier had a 3-pointer and Snodgrass and McCory followed with baskets to make it a 45-44 game with 2:30 left in the period.

Snodgrass topped the Braves with 18 points, while Payton scored 13 and McCory 12.

“Obviously, Jalen didn’t play as well as he had been playing,” Benter said. “I’ve got a lot of confidence he’ll bounce back. He had been so good for us all year. They did a great job contesting his shots. He’s been taking care of the ball and distributing and creating shots so well all year, that’s where I didn’t feel he was as effective tonight. In 11 games, an 18-year-old is allowed to have one bad game. You just hate for it to be on a night like tonight when our backs are against the wall for the whole 32 minutes.”

The 72 points are the most the Braves have given up this season.

The Braves are 10-1 and on Friday will play host to Brown County.

Braves can't figure out Dragons, suffer first loss of season

Kenzie Winstead  (The Courier-Journal)

BROWNSTOWN — There haven’t been many instances this season when the Brownstown Central boys basketball team trailed after one quarter of play.

On Saturday, though, that happened.

Southwestern (Hanover) capitalized on Brownstown’s missed shots and scored a couple of baskets in transition for a 14-12 lead through eight minutes.

To coach Dave Benter’s relief, the Braves started the second quarter on a 12-4 run to force a Rebels timeout at 3:48, and then they took another break after four straight turnovers and a 10-0 Brownstown run.

The Braves led 40-22 at halftime and went on to collect an 89-60 victory to improve to 10-0 on the season.

“Obviously, they came out with more energy than us,” Benter said of the Rebels. “We tried subbing, and I thought really our top eight or nine guys were pretty flat to start the game. And then, we went on that run in the second quarter to get some separation, and offensively, I thought we did a lot of nice things in the second half.”

Trey DeHart scored Brownstown’s first five points. After Jalen Snodgrass’ steal and layup gave Brownstown a 9-5 lead at 3:40, Southwestern responded with seven straight. Snodgrass assisted Tanner Payton on a 3-pointer with 31 seconds to go in the period before Gunner Henry made a basket for a two-point Rebel lead through one quarter.

The Braves had five turnovers in the first quarter, but in the second, they didn’t commit any while forcing the Rebels into 10.

The score was tied at 14 and 17 before Brett McCory’s second straight three-point play at 5:16 gave the Braves a 20-17 edge. Henry made a free throw at 5:05 for a 22-18 score, but then Brownstown scored 14 straight points before Darius Whitson made a basket in transition for a 36-20 score at 41 seconds.

Snodgrass made a free throw at 33 seconds and assisted Kyle Wischmeier on a 3 at the buzzer for a 40-22 score going into halftime.

Between the first and second quarters, Benter said he talked to his team about taking care of the ball, and the Braves did that in the second. Plus, their press caused turnovers and led to baskets.

“Going into (Friday) night’s game, I think we were averaging seven turnovers as a team, which is fantastic for as many possessions as we’ve had in our games,” he said. “And (Friday) night, we had seven at halftime, and tonight, we had five in the first quarter and we went on to have five the rest of the game.”

The Braves opened the third quarter with two steals and seven straight points by the 6:39 mark. From there, the Rebels only had one fumble, and the teams combined for 18-of-30 shooting and 51 points in the third. Wischmeier again ended the quarter with a buzzer-beating 3 — his second of the period — and gave the Braves a 71-42 lead entering the fourth.

Snodgrass made all four of his baskets, including two 3s, in the fourth quarter. His second trey at 5:43 gave the Braves their largest lead of the night, 81-46.

Snodgrass finished with a game-high 29 points, while Payton came off the bench and scored a career-high 17 points, McCory contributed 12 and Wischmeier scored 11 off the bench.

Four of Southwestern’s starters finished in double figures, with Joel Smith leading the way with 18 points.

“The strength of our team from the start of the year has been our ability to score,” Benter said. “And at the holiday tournament, I thought especially the last game, we defended really, really well, and I think we probably took a step back this weekend in that area.

“But it was good to see us get an offensive flow those last three quarters of the game where we were able to get some easy baskets,” he added, “and we had a lot of different guys score the basketball, which is a good thing.”

Payton said he took Benter’s words after the first quarter to heart, and he felt the whole team responded.

“It just gets me going,” Payton said of Benter's pep talk. “He said we were being lethargic.”

The team shot and moved the ball in transition better from there, Payton said. He finished 6 of 11 from the field and made both of his free throws, and he and Wischmeier led the team with three 3s apiece.

“My dad has just been on my case about shooting the ball more, being more aggressive,” Payton said, “so I just said, ‘Heck, I’ll just shoot the ball more tonight.’ Coach Benter worked with me at walkthrough this morning, and he said that the ball was too close inside here, and I focused on getting the ball farther out in there, just going right in.”

At Brownstown

Southwestern 14 8 20 18—60

Brownstown Central (10-0): Trey DeHart 3-7 0-0 7, Jalen Snodgrass 12-21 3-4 29, Brett McCory 3-11 5-6 12, Chase Klinge 3-3 0-0 6, Skylar Thompson 1-4 1-2 3, Tanner Payton 6-11 2-2 17, Kyle Wischmeier 4-7 0-0 11, Chaz Schneider 0-3 2-2 2, Austin Snodgrass 1-3 0-0 2, Wade Toppe 0-0 0-0 0, Kory Kovert 0-0 0-0 0, Collin DeHart 0-0 0-0 0, totals 33-70 13-16 89

Southwestern (Hanover) (3-7): Joel Smith 7-8 2-3 18, Gunner Henry 4-9 3-4 14, Logan Hamilton 2-9 6-6 10, Jordan Perry 0-6 5-6 5, Michael Perry 5-11 1-3 11, Darius Whitson 1-4 0-0 2, Nick Wyne 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan Yarbrough 0-0 0-0 0, Zach Westerfield 0-0 0-0 0, totals 19-47 17-22 60

3-point goals: Brownstown Central (Payton 3, Wischmeier 3, J. Snodgrass 2, T. DeHart, McCory), Southwestern (Hanover) (Henry 3, Smith 2)

Rebounds: Brownstown Central 40 (McCory 8, Thompson 8, J. Snodgrass 7, Payton 6), Southwestern (Hanover) 27 (J. Perry 8, Smith 7)

Turnovers: Brownstown Central 10, Southwestern (Hanover) 17

Junior varsity

Southwestern 7 4 4 4—19

Brownstown 11 11 14 8—44

CAMPBELLSBURG — Coming off of a big holiday tournament win the week before, the Brownstown Central boys basketball team had some hot moments and some off moments in Friday’s game at West Washington.

West Washington only trailed by five after one quarter of play and then pulled within five again in the second quarter. Brownstown, however, responded with 13 straight points.

That was one hot moment.

The off moments came in the second half when the Braves only scored six points past the midway point of the third quarter and put the Senators in the double bonus with 1:53 to go in the third.

Jalen Snodgrass continued his balanced night with his sixth and seventh 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to push the Braves’ lead to 26, and Brownstown claimed a 60-43 victory.

“The frustrating thing was I thought several times we forced a bad shot or got a turnover and we didn’t capitalize,” Braves coach Dave Benter said. “I thought we could have even separated more, and West Washington’s big guys really gave us fits defensively and offensively. Their length and size hurt us a little bit.”

That showed a little bit in the first quarter. The Braves jumped ahead 11-3 on Snodgrass’ first 3 of the night at 4:06, but the Senators’ 6-foot-6 Clayton Sullivan had a 3 and pair of baskets to make it a 12-7 game at 1:39. Brownstown led 14-9 after one.

Chase Klinge found Kyle Wischmeier open for a 3 from the left wing early in the second quarter for a 19-11 Braves lead, but Zach Trueblood answered to make it a five-point game at 5:30.

Klinge converted a three-point play 19 seconds later to begin Brownstown’s 13-0 run, forcing a West Washington timeout at 2:50 with the Braves leading 32-14. The Senators closed the half with a 6-3 scoring edge for a 35-20 score at halftime.

“Give them credit, they are very sound defensively and they did a nice job defensively,” Benter said of the Senators. “A couple times, I thought we could hurt them in transition. We made some really poor decisions, turned the basketball over or missed easy shots. But some of that had to do with their length and defensive ability. That hurt us at times.”

The Braves couldn’t get into a flow in the third quarter, but they maintained a double-digit lead. They had two turnovers and only six points when Benter called a timeout at 3:02.

“I thought they were playing harder than us,” Benter said. “They extended their defense, and that’s what we wanted them to do, but we didn’t handle it very well.”

Snodgrass gave them some life in the final 1:40 with a drive to the basket and a 3 at the top of the key before the buzzer for a 50-32 lead entering the fourth.

“We switched our press up and we went with a half-court zone and tried to force them to shoot it in a little bit because we had so much foul trouble that we were trying to protect a couple guys,” Benter said.

Brownstown then made a statement by starting the fourth with the first 10 points. Snodgrass assisted Chaz Schneider on a nice bounce pass in transition to start the run, and Tanner Payton found Skylar Thompson underneath for a basket at 4:19 for a 60-32 lead.

The Senators didn’t give up, as they ended the game with the final 11 points.

“They did not quit the whole game,” Benter said of the Senators. “They played hard throughout the whole game. There were positives tonight, but there were definitely things we’ve got to work on. The big thing is transition. We’ve got to make better transitions as a whole and not turn the ball over.”

Snodgrass finished with 28 points on 10-for-14 shooting, including seven 3s, and 1 for 2 from the foul line. Brett McCory chipped in 10 points and a game-high seven rebounds.

Sullivan led the Senators (4-5) with 17 points, with eight coming from the free-throw line, and Trueblood tallied 10.

Will face Barr-Reeve tonight for title

ELNORA — One of the teams playing in the championship game of the Graber Post Buildings Classic on Friday night was going to have its winning streak snapped.

The Brownstown Central Braves, winners of their first seven games entering the title matchup, ended up being the ones keeping their run alive with a hard-fought 45-40 victory over Barr-Reeve. The Vikings lost their first game of the year before winning eight straight going into Friday’s game.

After trailing by two through one quarter of play, the Braves broke away from a couple of ties and went on a 12-0 run. That helped them build a 26-16 lead at halftime.

They knew, though, that Barr-Reeve wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

The Vikings scored the first 10 points of the second half to even the score. The best they could do from there, though, was tie the score twice more in the third quarter. They trailed 32-31 going into the fourth period, and then the Braves’ Trey DeHart knocked down a crucial 3-pointer with 5:57 to go.

Brownstown later built its lead to 42-37 with 47 seconds left, but the Braves missed some free throws down the stretch and gave up a three-point play on a putback by Addison Wagler with 36 seconds remaining to make it interesting.

Jalen Snodgrass was fouled on the ensuing play and sank both free throws for a 44-40 edge with 30 seconds left. Barr-Reeve missed two scoring opportunities on its next possession before Brownstown grabbed the rebound. Following two more missed foul shots by the Braves with 19 seconds to go, the Vikings missed yet another shot and the Braves got the rebound and Snodgrass made 1 of 2 at the line to seal the win.

Snodgrass, who led all scorers with 16 points and was named the tournament’s most valuable player, said he was relieved to hit two straight free throws after he and his teammates had missed some other attempts in the fourth quarter. The Braves went 8 of 15 from the line in the fourth and 11 of 21 for the game.

“It was big,” he said of sinking his free throws. “I missed a couple, and then I didn’t want to end with that. I wanted to go up and I wanted to hit a couple because I knew I could. If I have enough confidence in myself, I know I can do that.”

Braves coach Dave Benter was glad to see his team pull out the tournament title for the second time in three years, despite shooting 4 of 16 from the field and going 9 of 17 from the line in the second half.

“There’s going to be nights when you don’t shoot the ball well, and we really didn’t shoot the ball great all three nights in the tournament,” he said. The Braves shot 15 of 45 on Friday. “But good teams defend, rebound and take care of the ball, and we really defended and took care of the ball. We didn’t rebound in the second half as well as I would have liked, but we did do the other two things.”

For the second straight night, the Braves faced an opponent that likes to slow the ball down. In the first quarter, Brownstown shot 3 of 13 from the field and trailed 10-8.

The score was tied three times in the second quarter, with Wagler’s basket at 4:42 making it 14-all. Snodgrass’ drive at 3:20 then started the Braves’ 12-0 run, which included a pair of 3-pointers by Chaz Schneider. Tanner Payton ended the run with a pair of baskets before Wagler’s putback at 44 seconds made it 26-16, which held until halftime.

“The important thing is we hit a couple shots,” Benter said of the team’s run. “We didn’t hit many shots all game, but Chaz hit those back-to-back 3s and we got two or three offensive rebounds during that run.”

Snodgrass said the Braves finally got shots to fall and played good defense.

“We didn’t shoot the ball well at all the whole game, but we had a couple guys step up in the second quarter and we dug in on defense,” he said. “Coach told us it was going to be a defensive game and the tougher team is going to win, so it’s the mentality we went in with.”

Snodgrass said, however, that Benter told the team at halftime to be aware of Barr-Reeve’s firepower.

The Vikings ignited in the third quarter, with four players pounding their way to the basket, and Jonathon Gingerich was found wide open underneath the basket on transition to even the score at 26.

DeHart then threw the ball cross-court to Snodgrass, who buried a 3. Barr-Reeve managed to tie the score twice more in the third, but Brownstown never let the Vikings take the lead.

Brownstown shot 2 of 11 from the field and was outscored 15-6 in the third, but the Braves managed to take a one-point lead into the fourth.

Snodgrass was the only Brave scoring in double figures, and he had a team-high seven rebounds. Brett McCory, who finished with eight points and six rebounds, was named to the all-tournament team.

Matt Swartzentruber led the Vikings with 14 points, while Wagler had 13.

“That’s a really nice basketball team we beat,” Benter said. “They’ve got a good balance of inside-outside scorers, and I thought both teams defended exceptionally well. They are two offensive teams, but I thought both teams were two good defensive teams tonight.”

Snodgrass considered it an honor being named MVP, but he didn’t want to take all of the credit.

“I take pride in that reward,” he said, “but it’s not just me at all. We have a great team. Nobody’s selfish, and it’s just a great team.”

The Braves are off until Friday’s game at West Washington.

Remain unbeaten at 6-0

“It was pretty hard the first couple games,” the 6-foot-4 Brownstown Central junior said. “I wanted to get out there and play, but I just couldn’t.”

Thompson was back on the court for Friday’s Mid-Southern Conference game at home against Scottsburg.

He didn’t start, but he entered the game in the first quarter and scored 15 points, including three 3-pointers, in the final 2:11. He ended up leading the team with 20 points and was one of four Braves in double figures in an astounding 101-40 victory.

“I wanted to come back and show them that I could (play) and that nothing changed, I could keep up with the team and help the team out when they needed help,” Thompson said.

With the Braves leading 15-8, Chaz Schneider threw the ball cross-court to Thompson, and he buried his first trey from the right wing.

“After I hit that first shot, I knew that I was going to be in a rhythm and start shooting them all,” he said.

On the Braves’ next possession, Schneider found Thompson in the same place for a 21-8 lead.

“I said, ‘OK, let’s try it again,’” Thompson said with a smile.

Kyle Wischmeier assisted Thompson on a pair of baskets down low and Thompson made another basket before he made another 3 from the right at 27 seconds to give the Braves a 32-15 lead.

“I just knew I was on after I hit that third one,” he said. “I didn’t think I could miss anymore.”

Through one quarter of fast-paced play by both squads, the Braves had a 36-15 lead.

It didn’t stop in the second quarter. Brownstown scored the first 18 points, and Scottsburg’s only point was a free throw by Kirk Hardin with 1:28 left in the half. Brett McCory scored on a turnaround jumper at 1:03, Jalen Snodgrass alley-ooped the ball to Thompson at 24 seconds and Snodgrass made a pair of free throws with five seconds on the clock for a 60-16 halftime score.

“Our offense, we could get up and down the court really well, and we had players that scored really well and we got the ball to them,” Thompson said of the first half.

All nine Braves who played in the first half scored. They were 23 of 40 from the field and 7 of 11 from the free-throw line with four turnovers, while the Warriors were 5 of 19 from the field and 4 of 9 from the line with 16 turnovers, including 11 in the second quarter.

“It was just one of those nights where our guys played with an awful lot of energy, and it just kept snowballing,” Braves coach Dave Benter said. “Our guys were feeding off of each other in the first half as well as I’ve had a team play that I can remember. We shot the ball, our ball movement was exceptional and our offensive rebounding was really good.”

Scottsburg had its best offensive output in the third quarter, with Cameron Collins scoring 10 of the Warriors’ 15 points. But he was one of only three Warriors to score, while the Braves had five players put points up, and Brownstown led 79-31 heading into the fourth quarter.

“We’ve got a team that’s going to press some,” Benter said. “The downside is we give up some easy looks and some easy baskets, and I absolutely hate doing that. But this is a team that can do some good things in a press, also, and we did that tonight.”

In the fourth, the Braves made 10 of their 12 shots from the floor. Collin DeHart had seven points, Schneider had five, Wischmeier and Austin Snodgrass scored four apiece and Drew Shoemaker scored two. DeHart made a 3 from the left wing at 1:07 to send the Braves past the 100-point mark.

The Braves finished the game shooting 41 of 69 from the field and 8 of 13 from the line, compared to the Warriors’ 12 of 39 from the field and 11 of 24 at the line. Scottsburg had 29 turnovers to Brownstown’s 11, and the Braves had the rebounding advantage 38-22.

Braves joining Thompson in double figures were Jalen Snodgrass with 17, McCory 14 and Schneider 13.

For Scottsburg (1-3 overall, 1-3 in MSC), Collins led with 20 points, while Christian Evans had 11.

Eleven of the 12 Braves scored in the game.

“Sometimes you put guys in in the fourth quarter at the end of the game, some younger guys, and they quit playing hard and they are selfish,” Benter said. “That wasn’t the case at all tonight. They were giving up some size at each position, but our guys battled and played hard and played very unselfish.”

The last time Brownstown hit 100 points in a game was a 100-34 win over New Washington during the 2003-04 season. In 2000-01 against Charlestown and in 1993-94 against Austin, the Braves scored 102 points. The school record is 110, scored against Brown County in 1982-83 and against Shawswick in 1968-69.

As a senior in Friday’s county rivalry basketball game at Seymour, it was Jalen Snodgrass’ time to shine.

And boy, did he ever.

The Brownstown Central guard buried four of his five 3-pointers of the first half in the second quarter, keeping his team afloat as the host Owls pounded the ball to the basket, forcing a 33-33 score at halftime.

Snodgrass scored 10 more points in the third quarter, including getting a defensive rebound and going all the way down the floor, making a layup, getting fouled and converting the three-point play. And on the Braves’ next possession, he dribbled behind his back, moved toward the basket and scooped the ball in the hoop for a 48-37 lead.

He added eight more points in the fourth quarter, leading the Braves to a 70-55 win.

Snodgrass finished with a career-high 38 points along with five rebounds, four assists, two blocks, two steals and only one turnover.

“Coach told us to push in transition and try to get to the rim if we could or kick out for open 3s, and my shots were just falling,” Snodgrass said.

Having a good feeling coming into the game made a difference.

“I had a good feeling,” he said. “I don’t know. It just kind of happened, I guess.”

Coming out stronger on defense, improving on rebounding and continuing to score helped the Braves gain some space in the second half.

“Coach said going into halftime, the team that boxes out and rebounds and is the toughest team in the second half is going to win,” Snodgrass said. “So we came in with that mentality. We had to be the tougher team, and that’s what we did.”

After Seymour scored the first five points of the game, Snodgrass made a free throw, Brett McCory drove in for a basket and Trey DeHart assisted Snodgrass on his first 3 of the night for a 6-5 lead. Then, there were two lead changes and two ties before Connor Kirtley scored at 38 seconds, giving the Owls a 13-11 edge after one period of play.

Brownstown turned the ball over on its first possession of the second quarter, but the Braves straightened up and Snodgrass scored five straight points. Matthew Lucas’ putback evened the score at 16 before Snodgrass nailed his third 3 of the game.

The only time the Owls led in the second quarter was on two free throws by Josh Joray at 2:31, making it 29-28. But there was Snodgrass again, with his fourth 3 of the quarter and fifth of the game. Tanner Payton had a basket for the Braves at the 1-minute mark, but Joray book-ended that with two scores, and the score was tied at halftime.

“We were fortunate we had Jalen explode like he did because as far as team was concerned, (the Owls) were the better basketball team,” Braves coach Dave Benter said. “They were tougher than us, they rebounded, they did exactly what concerned me and they pounded the ball inside.”

Owls coach Scott Miller said his team didn’t guard Snodgrass like it should have.

“There’s no doubt that Snodgrass was the best player on the floor. Outstanding basketball player. Probably the best athlete, did everything you want him to do,” Miller said. “We started jumping him and trying to get tight. We had a couple guys that did it all the time, and a couple guys that didn’t and gave him more space.”

Lucas scored the first basket of the third quarter, but Snodgrass answered with a 3. Kirtley then scored at 6:34 for a 37-36 lead, but McCory’s score on an inbounds play began Brownstown’s 10-0 run. Snodgrass’ three-point play at 3:23 capped the run, and the Braves took a 50-42 lead into the fourth quarter.

“I kind of challenged our guys at halftime to get tougher,” Benter said. “I said, ‘We don’t know if Jalen’s going to have that kind of half in the second half.’ And if he wouldn’t have done that, we probably could have been down 15 points at halftime.”

Snodgrass scored eight points or more in each of the final three quarters, but four of his teammates scored in the second half and helped on the defensive end. Seymour turned the ball over six times in the second half to Brownstown’s one.

“We faded away, took a couple bad shots, had turnovers that didn’t make any sense at all,” Miller said of the second half. “And if you’re going to jump somebody, you’re going to double-team somebody, you better have some rotation, and I’m quite certain we’re going to sit down and watch film and watch that not happen. We had a couple guys standing underneath that didn’t move. (Brownstown) is too good to do that, and everybody else we play is, too.”

Lucas kept his team in the game early in the fourth quarter, converting a three-point play at 6:37 and getting fouled on a 3-point attempt and making all three free throws at 6:06, both times making it a four-point game.

The Braves, though, followed with nine straight points to make it 63-50 with 2:27 to go.

Braves joining Snodgrass in double figures were McCory with 15 points and Payton with 10.

“He played a fantastic game,” Benter said of Snodgrass, “but we had other guys that really stepped up, especially in the second half. All eight guys that played in the second half, I thought, defended and rebounded well and took care of the ball, and that’s encouraging because that was a big concern of mine of this team, of how we’re going to defend and rebound, and we did that in the second half.”

Lucas led the Owls with 24 points, while Kirtley chipped in 11.

Today, the Owls (0-2) will travel to Franklin, while the Braves (2-0) are off until Friday’s Mid-Southern Conference game at home against Scottsburg.

“We had a great following,” Benter said of Friday’s rivalry game, “and the guys appreciate that. Any time you have that kind of following, it’s a great atmosphere to play in.”

Snodgrass fed off it.

Both teams put together strings of points, but Brownstown had longer rallies and won the Mid-Southern Conference game 61-44.

Salem scored the first six points of the game before Brownstown rebounded with 15 straight points to lead the rest of the way.

“We played really well in spurts,” Braves coach Dave Benter said. “During those spurts, we seemed to defend better and we seemed to move the ball better and we were able to make some shots. I didn’t think either team shot the ball as well as they are capable of.”

The Braves were 22 of 55 from the floor, while Salem was 18 for 55.

“We want to play perfect defense, but obviously we can’t,” Benter said. “Salem’s athleticism probably led to some of that. Salem is strong and athletic. I’d like to think some of their struggles was from our man-to-man. Both teams are real familiar with each other, and that makes it more difficult to score on each other.

“Salem gave up 28 points (against West Washington). They can cause teams some problems, and their press caused us some problems early, and then we were able to break it and get some easy baskets. That was encouraging to do that.”

After Ian Bowling’s free throws gave Salem a 6-0 lead at 6:05, Skylar Thompson made two free throws to start the Braves on their 15-0 run. Jalen Snodgrass made a 3-point shot on Brownstown’s next possession, and he scored nine points during the string. He also had another basket in the closing seconds to help the Braves to a 17-9 lead at the end of the period.

“I thought Jalen came in off the bench and gave us a lift when he first came in,” Benter said. “I thought he generated some offense.”

The Braves opened the second period with a 6-0 run, and Wade Toppe’s basket at the 5-minute mark put the home team on top 23-9. Salem then used a 7-0 run to close to 23-16 before Brownstown closed the half on a 6-2 run for a 29-18 lead at the half.

“My biggest two concerns was our rebounding and our wasted possessions, either by turnovers or bad shots,” Benter said. “We’ve got to get a good shot every time up the floor.”

The Lions took advantage of empty possessions by the Braves during the first two minutes of the third period to go on an 8-0 run and close to 29-26 on a rebound basket by Zach Bowling at 6:10.

After Benter called a timeout, Trey DeHart converted a three-point play and Brett McCory and Snodgrass hit 3-point baskets, and the Braves’ lead expanded to 38-26. The teams traded points the remainder of the period for a 45-33 score going into the fourth.

The Braves came out hot at the start of the final period and used four points by Snodgrass and two each by Tanner Payton, Chaz Schneider and Kyle Wischmeier for a 10-0 surge and a 55-33 score with 4:32 remaining.

“The last three or four years, we’ve had guys we could throw the ball to and generate offense of 20- or 25-point scorers,” Benter said. “I’m not sure if we have that this year. What we do have, we’ve got a lot of guys capable of scoring. In order to get them shots, we’ve got to move the ball better, we’ve got to be unselfish, we’ve got to make the extra pass and we’ve got to knock some shots down.”

Snodgrass captured game-scoring honors with 23 points, and McCory was next with eight points. Nine Braves saw playing time in the first quarter, and all nine scored during the game.

“It’s always important for the guys you’re going to depend on for the varsity to develop them early in the season so they get some experience, and hopefully we’re playing our best ball by the sectional and everybody is comfortable out on the floor,” Benter said.

Ian Bowling was the high scorer for Salem with 18 points, while Zach Bowling scored 13.

Brownstown held a 29-28 advantage in rebounds, and McCory topped the Braves with seven and Payton had five.

“We’ve got to get more consistent and get rid of those empty possessions and rebound the ball and take care of the ball better, and that will eliminate those empty runs,” Benter said.