Braves start strong with solid road win at Central

(Carrollton, GA) — The Heard County Braves knocked off the Central Lions 40-35 on the road Saturday to open the 2020 boys varsity basketball season at HCHS.

A solid defensive effort in the first half left the Braves leading 23-13 at the break.

The Braves led by seven points entering the fourth period before the Lions would bounce back and cut the lead to four with under a minute to play.

Ty Smith led the Braves with 11 points Saturday

A couple of late foul shots by Ty Smith would seal the first win of the season for Coach Derek Smith and the Braves.

Smith led the Braves in scoring with 11 points on the day.

Chance Curbow finished the game with eight points including two 3-pointers.

As a team, the Braves hit seven from beyond the arc.

Other scorers in the win included RoRo Edmondson with six, Kahlil Cofield with five, Jammer Cook and Evan Walls with four apiece, and Ethan Lawson with two.

The Braves are playing short-handed with several football players still unavailable and only eight players dressed for Saturday’s game.

Coach Smith was pleased to see such an improvement from a 22-point loss to the Lions in a similar 2019 early season matchup.

“You know the funny thing is we came here last year with roughly the same number of kids and got blown out so just to see the improvement the guys have made and the buy in to the process shows what can happen even without everybody here in just a year,” said Smith after Saturday’s game.

Smith thinks the strongest indicator of his team’s progress was the strong defensive effort.

“If we can continue to hold teams to under 15 in a half — then I like our chances in pretty much any game this year,” said Smith.

The Braves were scheduled to play at Lagrange Tuesday, but that game has been cancelled.