There were almost five minutes gone in Brebeuf’s home conference game Friday night against perennial rival-in-all-sports Bishop Chatard, and the mojo was bad. Real bad. The Braves had missed their first eight shots and were down 9-0 to the Blue School on Crittenden Avenue, a team they had an 18-game win streak against. But it was more than that. Coming on the heels of the previous week’s disappointing 9-point loss to their other P.R.I.A.S., Guerin Catholic, in which they were outscored 18-6 in the fourth quarter, AND immediately following the first game of this night’s double-header, a five-point loss by the girls team to Chatard on Senior Night, a scoreboard without any scores on it for the home team was especially concerning. Braves coach Allen Glunt called timeout as the visiting Chatard crowd cheered itself hoarse, unsure if his players needed strategy, a pep talk, or therapy. A few of his starters looked about as confident as long-tailed cats at a rocking chair store. “I told them this was actually exactly what we needed,” Glunt said of his calm, upbeat timeout huddle. “Another moment for us to improve in our adjustments to runs and missed shots. The same situation we had in the second half against Guerin, when we didn’t respond well.” In other words, the teacher was letting his students take a make-up test for the one they’d just bombed. Know this about students at Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School, athletes or not: they’re good test-takers, especially if you give them a mulligan. Following a couple more misses by both teams, Chace Ford finally scored for the home team at the 2:30 mark with a driving left-hand layup, and it blew the roof off the sold-out gym. Homeowners on Spring Mill Road heard the Brebeuf crowd’s jubilant cheer, and before it died down, Cooper Edmundson had stolen an errant pass and streaked in for a layup. Then Chace Ford stole a pass before Chatard could get across halfcourt for another layup. In 46 seconds, Brebeuf had scored six points. In the remaining 1:30 of first quarter play, they would score seven more. A 9-0 deficit had become a 13-11 lead at the end of one, and the Braves were playing downhill. Maybe, just maybe, a season had been saved. Late in the second quarter, with the score tied at 17, Austin Ford scored his first points, and then the Braves’ defense took over this game the way Star Wars nerds take over downtown during GenCon. Steals were as common as stormtroopers. A. Ford had two back-to-back, leading to a layup and a three-pointer. Antonio Harris got one, and then a bucket. C. Ford tied up a befuddled Chatard player in the half’s final seconds, and the result was Dylan Logan’s buzzer-beating three pointer from the left wing that capped a 13-1 run to close the half, Braves up 30-18. “We did a much better job of just focusing on, ‘Are we getting great shots?’ Not worrying if they go in, but staying the course and leaning into our defense.” Glunt said, describing his team as they began to play with their signature style in the middle quarters. The third quarter resembled the third quarter of so many Brebeuf-Chatard football games: Lots of scoring by one team, lots of exasperated sighs by the other. Brebeuf scored the first 12, and the highlight of the run- and possibly the game- was a ridiculous behind-the-back assist from Chase Edmundson to Jayden Washington on a fastbreak for a layup which made it 37-18, and again caused the home crowd to disrupt the folks watching Netflix on Spring Mill Road. The score ballooned to 48-24 before the Braves bench played out the fourth quarter of a game that ended 62-46, putting Brebeuf back on track for a possible Circle City Conference championship, which would be the third in Glunt’s four seasons. Brebeuf improved to 8-6, which feels a heck of a lot better than 7-7, and continued their recent dominance over the Trojans, having now won nineteen games in a row against their rivals, dating all the way back to March 3rd of 2012. On that day, the current seniors were four years old, President Obama was running for reelection, and Chatard beat Brebeuf 69-44 in sectional play. Ten classes of Braves basketball players have since graduated having never lost to the Trojans in their four years, which was all part of the Bad Mojo when this game was 0-9 and it felt like we’d never hit another shot. Come see Brebeuf play their last game of a six-game homestand this Thursday night against Shortridge, who is no joke this year at 9-6 with a 2-point loss to #1-ranked Fishers. Should be a good one for a Braves team heading into February with all its goals still in front of them. Go Braves!