What's good for Brainerd may be bad news for the other three teams remaining in the championship bracket of the Times Free Press Best of Preps boys' basketball tournament.
The Panthers, after an up-and-down start to the regular season, used some newfound depth to produce a nearly wire-to-wire 68-58 win over East Hamilton in Wednesday's opening round at Chattanooga State.
That depth comes in the form of guard Boo Carter, who was playing in his third game after transferring from Chattanooga Christian, and the return of big man Quintus Broadnax, who shocked his teammates and coaches by returning to action after only a four-month recovery from a torn ACL.
"We finally got all our kids back," Brainerd coach Levar Brown said when asked what led to the impressive showing. "Being able to add a Boo Carter and Quintis Broadnax, who is our glue guy, is huge for us.
"To see that kid come back on his birthday after just four months was definitely a shot in the arm for us and it energized the kids. We still don't know how he did it. The kid did two-a-days, he worked with our trainer and he went to physical therapy and did everything his doctors asked of him and more. He was officially cleared this past Friday, and we're excited to have him back."
Carter, the Chattanooga area's top junior football recruit, led Brainerd (9-6) with 17 points while adding eight rebounds and three steals, and he combined with returning star Dennis Lewis Jr. (15 points) to form an often dominating backcourt. Donivon Thomas added 12 points and eight rebounds, with Broadnax adding six rebounds, part of a huge Brainerd edge on the boards, including 17-9 in the first half.
East Hamilton (8-6) led 11-8 when Carter finished a strong drive to ignite a 15-2 run that included eight points from Lewis and Kendrick Jones' 3-pointer.
The Panthers, who will face McCallie in Thursday's semifinal round, led 38-27 at halftime, but East Hamilton guard Juan Bullard scored six straight in a 6-1 run to get the Hurricanes within seven. The lead was eight with less than a minute to play in the third when Jones hit another trey and Carter followed with one of his own to end the period with Brainerd holding a rather comfortable 59-45 lead.
Carter put any East Hamilton comeback thoughts to rest to start the final eight minutes with back-to-back hard drives, the second a twisting flip while falling down as the appreciative crowd -- and the Brainerd bench -- cheered the effort.
"Boo definitely put his imprint on this game, and he takes a lot of pressure off our all-state point guard, Dennis Lewis Jr.," a smiling Brown said. "The great thing about it is he's a great character kid, and the other thing is he went to middle school with all these kids, so they didn't have to get used to playing with him. Getting him in the lineup is just icing on the cake."
Kaden Herman led East Hamilton with 16, with Bullard adding 13 and a game-high 11 rebounds and Ashton Munson and Zachariah Laboo scoring 10 points each.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com.