> SOUTHERN INDIANA — Billy Kirchgessner had 13 points, six rebounds and six assists to help lead the Borden boys’ basketball team to a 54-44 victory over host Christian Academy on Friday.

Michael Lynch added 12 points and eight rebounds, Jalen McCoy tossed in another 12 points and former Warrior Cody Bachman scored nine in a balanced Borden effort.

“We have six or seven kids who can probably score 20 points on any given night,” Borden coach Doc Nash said. “But if we can get points out of six or seven or eight kids, we’re harder to guard. I think our balance helps us.”

After starting 9-0, Class A No. 7 Borden had dropped two straight before Friday’s win. Nash said the Braves spent the week working on being more aggressive offensively.

“We got back to being our old selves,” he said. “I was proud of our effort.”

Nash was particularly proud of his floor leader, Kirchgessner.

“Billy’s our senior leader,” Nash said. “He’s becoming a little coach out there and that’s a good thing. He wants to make adjustments during the game and that’s a good thing from your senior leader.”

Christian Academy was led again by Aaron Hayes, who scored half of the Warriors’ points. Aaron Eldridge added 10 points for CAI, which is off until next Friday when it will face Class 2A No. 4 Providence (12-1).

Borden (10-2) will hots winless Henryville tonight. A victory will give the Braves back-to-back Southern Athletic Conference titles.

• Generals still on top of MSC: Clarksville improved to 6-0 in the Mid-Southern Conference after a 65-52 victory over Scottsburg on Friday.

The Generals led Scottsburg 27-23 at the half then pulled away with a 19-10 third-quarter advantage. The win puts Clarksville two games ahead of Brownstown Central (11-1, 4-0) in the win column.

“It’s nice because a lot of people doubted us early on,” Clarksville coach Jason Connell said of the 6-0 league start. “It’s nice to see the kids work and get better. But we still have three games left in the conference race — and will still have some tough ones.”

Clarksville takes two weeks off from conference play before going to Brownstown on Feb. 1. The Generals will host Salem and North Harrison in their final two MSC contests.

On Friday, Calvin McEwen once again led the Class 2A No. 7 Generals. He had a game-high 24 points and seven assists and he was 8-for-8 from the free-throw line, including 6-of-6 in the fourth quarter.

“He played really well,” Connell said of McEwen. “He did a great job of taking care of the ball and getting to the free-throw line in the fourth quarter.”

Senior Aidan McEwen had 16 points and nine rebounds for the Generals. Christian Evans scored 22 for the Warriors.

NEXT: Clarksville (10-3, 6-0 MSC) at Trinity Lutheran, tonight.

• Slow start doesn’t stop Providence: Winless Henryville stunned Class 2A No. 4 Providence by taking a 10-9 lead after the first quarter.

From there, the Pioneers outscored Henryville 64-14 for a 73-24 victory on Friday.

“We had a pretty good first quarter and the third quarter defensively we weren’t bad,” Hornets’ coach Dan Carmony said. “Obviously, those other two quarters hurt us. That’s an understatement, I guess.”

“They outplayed us certainly for the first five minutes of the game and they had us on the ropes,” Providence coach Lou Lefevre said.

Providence outscored the Hornets 24-2 in the second quarter to take a 33-12 halftime lead. After an 11-3 third quarter, the Pioneers tacked on 29 points in the fourth.

“Eventually things started to go our way,” Lefevre said.

Ryan Pickerrell and Cory Cahalan led the balanced Pioneers with 13 points apiece. Nano Grantz finished with nine points, George Knott eight and Dalton Duley and Grant Goad had seven apiece for Providence.

Tyler Collins paced the Hornets with 10 points.

NEXT: Henryville (0-10) at Borden, tonight; Providence (12-1) at Silver Creek (3-10), Tuesday.

• Austin pulls away for win over New Wash: Short-handed New Washington led Austin 13-10 at the end of one quarter and the two teams were even 22-22 at the half.

However, Austin (4-7) outscored the host Mustangs 21-8 in the third quarter to take a 56-44 victory.

James Clemons scored 14 points to lead New Wash, which was without Adan Diaz, who has an injured hand. It was the first game back for the Mustangs’ Dustin Cooper, who was limited in his return.

Logan Miles and Ian Hughes added nine points apiece for the Mustangs. Cody Lesnet had a team-best 11 points for Austin. Former Henryville Hornet Devin Richey added seven for the Eagles.

NEXT: New Washington (6-8) hosts Switzerland County, next Friday.

• Highlanders fall at Jennings: Floyd Central fell behind Jennings County 19-8 at the end of the first quarter and lost a 70-41 road Hoosier Hills Conference game on Saturday.

With the win, the Panthers move to the top of the HHC standings at 4-0 with Jeffersonville and Columbus East.

Colton Kimm led the Highlanders with 10 points. Brad Hunt led all scorers with 12 for Jennings.

NEXT: Floyd Central (3-10, 0-4) hosts Madison (6-6, 0-4), tonight.