“Did I ever tell you that Mrs. McCave had twenty-three sons, and she named them all Dave? Well, she did, and that wasn’t a smart thing to do. You see, when she wants one, and calls out, ‘Yoo Hoo! Come into the house, Dave!’ She doesn’t get one. All twenty-three Daves of hers come on the run!” -from “Too Many Daves” by Dr. Seuss, 1961 Brebeuf coach Allen Glunt has a name problem during basketball practice. On a team with three Coopers, two Chases, two Fords and two Edmundsons, what does he shout to get a particular players’ attention? “It’s not easy,” the Brebeuf coach tells me. “Chace Ford is ‘Chace.’ ‘Edmundson’ usually refers to Chase Edmundson. ‘Coop’ is Cooper Edmundson. ‘Sherm’ is Cooper Sherman and ‘Cola’ is Cooper Agricola.” Got that? Tuesday night at Covenant Christian, the Braves used an 18-0 run at the start of the fourth quarter to pull away from a game Crusader team, winning 66-46 for their fourth straight victory. Chace and Sherm (as well as the reliable Austin) led the way. Junior guard Chace Ford scored a season-high 25 points to lead the Braves, none prettier than the second of two consecutive layups during the definitive fourth quarter run. On that play, Chace caught a 50-foot halfcourt pass in stride from his brother that was better than any thrown by either of the two quarterbacks in Sunday’s Super Bowl. Big Brother Austin counted that as one of his 8 assists, following one of his two steals, to go with 8 rebounds and 16 points. “This was as dominant of a game as Chace Ford has had on the offensive end,” his coach said after the game. “Battled some foul trouble, but was incredibly efficient and gave us a really calming presence as the game went on.” Glunt also went out of his way to praise “Sherm,” the senior guard Cooper Sherman who is one of the ‘glue’ guys on this team. “Some serious energy-producing minutes from Cooper Sherman- he really helped bring us to life a little.” Sherman had four points, but more importantly his four rebounds and three steals all seemed to happen during the sluggish moments in this game where Covenant was starting to get momentum. The Crusaders led by 8 a couple of times in the first half, before the Braves took a 24-23 halftime lead, which they stretched to 43-37 after three. The first four minutes of the fourth quarter looked like the last forty seconds of a Popeye cartoon; the part after Popeye eats his spinach: • Buckets by Jayden Washington and Dylan Logan • Steal by Austin, layup by Chace • Block by Edmundson (and you know which one I’m referring to, if you paid attention) • Super Bowl-worthy pass reception from Ford to Ford for layup • Steal and layup by Logan • Technical Foul on a Covenant Christian player whose language was, uh, demonstrative of Man’s sinful nature • Three-pointer from Austin • One more bucket from Chace Pow! Bluto flies through the air, lands in a barrel of fish, Olive says, “My Hero!” Cut to closing credits. Warm up the bus and get ready for Roncalli. That’s 3A #15-ranked Roncalli, where Brebeuf will take their winning streak and shiny new 3A state ranking (#18) to pay a visit on their southside Circle City Conference mates. A win leaves the door open for a shared conference championship, and more importantly, will help prepare this team for tournament play in March. (Roncalli basketball fans will be a little more rowdy than a Saturday afternoon Park Tudor crowd or a Tuesday night gathering at Covenant Christian, you can count on that.) Roncalli has one of their best teams in recent years, but a quick look at their roster reveals they have no Coopers, no Chase/Chaces, and no Edmundsons or Fords. Therefore, no chance to beat the fast-developing 3A storm that is this Brebeuf team! Make the trip to Roncalli Friday night to cheer on Brebeuf, and see if I’m right. Go Braves!