By BRAD BAUGHMAN, for The Democrat
It took a while — a really long while — but the Brown County High School boys basketball team finally played a home game.
After a series of cancellations and reschedulings that saw the Eagles play seven road games intermixed with pauses in the program, the Eagles welcomed the North Putnam Cougars to the Larry C. Banks Memorial Gymnasium on Jan. 23.
The Cougars must have felt right at home, pouncing on the Eagles early and never letting up to claim a 74-37 victory.
A very active, three-quarter-court zone press by the Cougars forced some early Brown County turnovers, and when the first quarter horn sounded, the Eagles trailed 17-5. “I thought early on it (the press) really rushed us on the offensive end, and we took rushed shots even when we didn’t turn it over. We got in a hole we couldn’t dig out of,” said Brown County Coach Matt Roberts.
Unfortunately for Roberts and the Eagles, the second quarter looked a lot like the first, and the hole became even deeper. The Cougars scored the first 16 points of the quarter, many coming in transition off Eagle turnovers.
Mason Brooks, the Cougars’ 6’6” senior forward, was a tough cover for the Eagles, scoring 16 of his game-high 27 points in the first half. “We knew going into the season that we would be undersized in most circumstances,” Roberts said about the Eagles’ task of containing the big man.
Brown County found a little offensive rhythm, scoring all 11 of their second-quarter points in the last four minutes of the half, but trailed 43-16 at the intermission. Still, it was enough of a spurt to warrant some acknowledgement from the coach. “Yeah, I actually liked the way we finished the first half with a bit more energy and spark,” Roberts said.
The third quarter proved to be the Eagles’ most productive. Junior guard Kody Walsh, held scoreless in the first half, scored seven quick points to start the quarter. Roberts liked what he saw, saying his team was “more active on defense and got ourselves some good looks at the basket on the offensive end.”
“I told the guys that it’s those periods of the game where we see glimpses of who we are and what we are capable of. We need to strive for more consistent stretches of that,” Roberts added.
When the Eagles return to the practice floor, Roberts will be holding his team to some high standards. “How you practice is how you’ll perform on game nights,” he said. “We talk a lot about each guy playing with heart, effort, and the proper mindset.”
After a season-opening win over Columbus Christian, Brown County has dropped seven consecutive games, but Roberts remains both optimistic and realistic, saying, “Despite the losses, the guys do continue to work hard and are happy to be on the court playing the game after so many layoffs/disruptions earlier in the season. We have to keep in mind that, in some ways, we’re about a month behind a lot of other teams.”
Brown County hosts Sullivan on Friday, Jan. 29, and then travels to Greensburg on Saturday, Jan. 30.
