EDINBURGH — Brown County managed only three wins in its first 19 games this boys basketball season.
The past three games, the Eagles have matched that number.
Brown County won its third consecutive game to close the regular season Thursday night when it rolled to a 67-47 victory at Edinburgh. The Eagles will play Sullivan in Tuesday’s Edgewood Sectional opener.
“This will definitely help us going in to sectional,” said junior Ezra Scully, who led Brown County with 20 points. “We’ve had some rough patches in the season, but right now, we’re clicking on a lot of cylinders.”
The Lancers (6-17) were within 9-7 following a 3-pointer by Coltan Henderson midway through the first quarter. The Eagles (6-16) then finished the period with a 13-0 run to take a 22-7 lead.
Back-to-back 3-pointers by Henderson to start the second quarter cut the lead to 22-13, but then Brown County’s Hunter First hit a 3 to start a 7-0 run that pushed the lead back to 29-13. The Eagles led 34-21 at halftime.
“I think that defensively, we started the game with some energy,” Brown County coach Chuck Hutchins said. “We were able to get out in transition a little bit and score. Defensively, both in our zone and our half-court trap, we created some transition opportunities for ourselves and got things rolling there.”
After the Eagles’ Josh Cochran hit a free throw, Henderson made another 3 to cut it to 35-24 with 5½ minutes left in the third quarter. Brown County then used a 16-4 run to take a 51-28 lead in the opening minute of the fourth quarter and put the game away.
The Eagles’ biggest lead came at 64-38 with 2:50 left in the game.
“The game is kind of easy at times,” Edinburgh coach Drew Glentzer said. “When you don’t make any baskets, you’re not going to win. I thought they shot the ball very well, and we shot the ball poorly.”
The Lancers made seven 3-pointers, but only six 2-point baskets. They were forced to shoot from the outside, mainly because of the presence of the 6-foot-10 Cochran inside.
Cochran finished with 14 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Hunter First added eight points and nine rebounds for Brown County, which outrebounded Edinburgh 37-29.
“Their length caused us problems, and our lack of aggressiveness to drive against it, we were passing the ball side to side instead of driving it a little bit more,” Glentzer said. “They forced us out. The game was played how they wanted it to be played.”
Henderson finished with 20 points to lead the Lancers, while Cam Cravens added 11. Parker Bryant grabbed eight rebounds for Edinburgh, which will play Morristown in its own sectional on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Eagles will carry some momentum into their sectional opener.
“It’s nice to be heading into the sectional with three wins,” Hutchins said. “We definitely got some things together here at the right time.”
