THOMASVILLE — Brookwood had a tough game on the hardwood on Thursday as they took on Highland Christian for their third game of the season. The Warriors quickly took commanding lead going up 21-4 in the opening quarter.

However, disaster struck when key players Levi Williams and Walker Jackson both fell into foul trouble just six minutes into the game. Because of the lead that they had built up, Jackson and Williams would remain out for the first half, but Highland Christian took advantage of the situation and closed the gap heading into halftime.

“It’s hard. When you’re hanging onto the lead you’re obviously not going to risk the player in foul trouble,” said Warriors head coach Nate VanDuyne about how he approached the early foul trouble. “You know, we never actually gave up the lead in the first half so, we never actually came back to our guys. But, Levi and Walker, all of a sudden you lose your point guard and your 6’9 center, that changes the way that you play. It became a far more collective approach of now it’s move the ball and get a great shot rather than move the ball and get actions for these guys.”

The Warriors leaned into a collective approach on offense. The game became an attack with “the sum of all your parts” instead of relying on any individual and they executed it to perfection. Four different Warriors finished with ten points or more and, despite only truly playing two and a half quarters, Jackson put up 16 points and was dominant on the boards as he has been all season.

“I think it was an environment that made our kids better,” VanDuyne said. “I’m really happy for our kids for just the effort that we had. We hung in there and it was just a great contest.”

Highland Christian would take a seven point lead in the third quarter, but the Warriors overcame the deficit and finished well in the final frame to emerge victorious with a 69-62 win.

Brookwood’s next contest will be away as they take on North Florida Christian on November 20. Their next home game will follow against Sherwood Christian Academy on the 21.