Joey Brown, 3-point shooting a recipe for success for North Central vs. Crispus Attucks

Make no mistake, Joey Brown doesn’t see himself as a forward.

“I can do a little bit of everything,” the North Central junior said. “As a taller guard, I can take advantage of little guards in the post or dribble pull-ups, shoot over them.”

Asked for clarification to make sure he did, in fact, just call himself a guard, Brown flashes a mischievous smile and answers with two words.

“Yes, sir.”

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Standing 6-6, Brown often finds himself in the middle, protecting the paint, guarding opposing bigs or slashing his way to the basket. But other times, he’s out on the perimeter, looking for his shot or picking a pass.

Wednesday, against Crispus Attucks, it was Brown’s ability to handle the ball which helped North Central (3-1) continue its strong start to the season with a 70-59 win. North Central coach Kevin Gant praised Brown's ability to play under control, even with waves of Attucks defenders sent Brown’s way.

“He understood they were going to give him a lot of attention,” Gant said. “He took the attention and he made the next play. A lot of times, guys still want to try and get that shot off, but he did a great job of finding his teammates. That’s just going to help us as we get going later in the season."

Joey Brown
Joey Brown

While the final score of Wednesday night’s game may have been a double-digit victory for North Central, for most of the game neither team was able to find any separation.

Playing fairly opposite styles, with the Panthers finding success with their perimeter shooters and the Tigers playing bully ball inside, the teams spent the first three quarters refusing to let the other pull away.

The Tigers (2-3) pounded the ball inside, first by finding 6-7 freshman forward Dezmon Briscoe but more successfully by running their offense through senior Christian Nunn.

The pair combined for 13 points in the first half and Nunn scored a game-high 19, but the Panthers’ 3-point shooting kept it close. Brown hit his first attempt from deep, and a layup by sophomore Mason Lewis at the buzzer gave North Central the lead after the first quarter.

The Panthers continued to hang around in the second, and another buzzer beater, this time a wing 3-pointer from senior Blake Fleming, gave North Central a one-point lead entering halftime. Gant credited the team’s offensive rebounding and mentality for helping the Panthers keep it close.

“I thought we stayed the course,” Gant said. “They made runs. They challenged us, made us guard them, but we understood we had to weather the storm.”

The third quarter went much the same way as the first two, but everything changed in the fourth. Gant sent out a lineup consisting of Brown and four shooters — Lewis, sophomore Christian Woodson, senior CJ Jolliffe, and junior Charlie Baker — and North Central opened the quarter with a barrage from deep.

“We’ve got a lot of shooters, a lot of people who can distribute the ball,” Lewis said. “Whenever we work together, it works in our favor every time.”

A free throw from Woodson started the scoring, before Brown found Jolliffe on a kick out for a 3-pointer from the right wing. Brown then slashed to the rim for two, before again facilitating, this time creating an open 3 for Baker from the left wing.

While the North Central offense hummed, Attucks wasn’t able to generate anything. The Panthers swarmed down low, even though its lineup lacked size, and took away anything at the rim. Gant was impressed with how his team took charges, forced travels, stood in passing lanes, and kept their hands active in the paint. The Tigers went scoreless in the fourth quarter until Nunn hit free throws with 3:25 left on the clock.

“We just played hard and trusted each other,” Brown said. “Don’t worry about getting beat because your brother is coming from help side, so just play hard and play solid defense.”

The 9-0 run was enough to finally get some separation, and good execution against the Attucks trap, along with free-throw shooting allowed North Central to slam the door.

Brown finished the night with 13 points to lead the team, and was joined in double digits by sharpshooter Fleming and senior David Lloyd, who had 11 and 10 respectively. Lewis added nine off the bench and carried the offense for most of the third quarter. Gant said it was important to have a game like Wednesday’s as the season begins to gather steam.

“You’ve got game after game after game once you get into the (Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference),” he said. “This right here prepares you for all those teams in the MIC. It was a possession game, we had to grind it out. They play extremely hard, so we had to make sure we were able to handle the physicality so this will help us later.”

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana high school basketball: Joey Brown leads North Central over Attucks