The fourth try proved to be the charm as Brunswick was finally able to follow up a district basketball championship with a victory in the next round. Losers at the Sectional level for the past three seasons, the Wildcats overcame that hurdle in grand style with a win Tuesday night when they defeated Green City, 65-46 in a contest played at Marceline and heard on KMMO-FM.

It was Green City the past two years and Atlanta before that who proved to be the villain when it came to ending Brunswick’s playoff run prematurely. But on this occasion, the Wildcats were having no none of that. Not trailing all evening, the winners broke a 6-6 tie with nine straight points to go on top, 15-6. Green City then bounced back with a 9-2 run, slicing the deficit to 17-15 early in the second period.

That led to Brunswick’s Balston Brown, Clay Hayward and Drew Jackson all following up with three-point baskets, enabling the Wildcats to enjoy an ensuing 9-2 outburst of their own as they rebuilt a 26-17 lead for themselves. After that, the Wildcats were on top by double digits the rest of the night, leading 36-21 at intermission and then 50-35 with eight minutes to go. At one stage, their lead grew to more than 20 points before they coasted home with their 65-46 victory.

With this being Green City’s sixth straight trip to at least the Sectional level, the Gophers ended their season at 22-7. Ivan Littrell and Clancy Ballinger both had 15 points to lead them while Orion Navis chipped in with 13. The victory was the 15th in a row for Brunswick who is now 26-3 on the year. Balston Brown paced all scorers with 29 points as he was credited with seven dunks on the night. Clay Hayward had 14 points and Drew Jackson tacked on 10 for their side.

Ranked second in Missouri in Class 1 boys’ basketball , the Wildcats now move on to meet Cairo in Salisbury at 1 pm Saturday afternoon in the state quarterfinals.