Fast start lifts Braves past Greenfield-Central

<p>Indian Creek’s near-perfect first half gave the Braves some cushion when they needed it most on Friday.</p><p>The result was a 69-61 victory over visiting Greenfield-Central that ended the team’s two-game losing streak and improved its overall record to 6-3.</p><p>Senior forward Jace Russell led a balanced attack for Indian Creek with team-highs of 22 points and seven rebounds. Three of his teammates also produced double-figures in points — Cooper Britt’s 18, Isaiah Lacey’s 11 and junior guard Xavier Ferris with 10.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery<p>Trailing by as many as 21 points in the second quarter, the Cougars battled back to close to within four (56-52) on junior forward Gavin Rose’s 3-point sequence with 5:06 to play in the fourth.</p><p>“Obviously, anytime you’re ahead like that at halftime, it’s hard to kind of get out of the gate,” Braves coach Drew Glentzer said. “We had a lot of good looks in the second half that we missed, but defensively we were terrible to start the quarter.</p><p>“Our defense is what fed our offense early, and we didn’t do that in the second half. But (GC) is a team that is very dangerous. Against Connersville, they were down 15 and ahead by five in the same quarter.”</p><p>Once Greenfield-Central closed to within four points, the Braves responded with a 9-0 run to put the game away. Britt started it with a reverse layup to go along with another hoop, while Ferris made 5 of 6 at the free throw stripe to make it 65-52 with 1:56 showing.</p><p>The Braves made 17 of 28 field goal attempts in the first half to bolt to a 45-27 lead with Russell accounting for 15 of the points.</p><p>Four Indian Creek players scored early on as the hosts jumped to a 13-0 advantage to open the contest. A 12-0 scoring burst midway through the second period pushed the margin to 21 points, 34-13, the highest of the first half.</p><p>Greenfield-Central (0-6) didn’t help its own cause, committing 14 of its 23 turnovers before halftime. Undeterred, the Cougars staged its furious comeback to make the game interesting.</p><p>“That’s kind of the mark we’ve made as a team right now. Even whenever it’s ugly and things are going wrong, we’re a team that still fights,” Greenfield-Central coach Lukas Haworth said. “That’s why we give ourselves a chance to win.</p><p>“The sooner we figure out how to put that together for 32 minutes, the effort is going to turn into a result we want. Overall, I’m happy with how the guys kept fighting.”</p><p>Sam Hunt, the Cougars’ lone senior, led the way with 12 points. Scoring 11 apiece were junior guards Brady Mundell and Jacob Cochran.</p><p>The Braves get to enjoy a long holiday break as they don’t play again until hosting Brown County on Jan. 5.</p>