Charleston broke open a close boys basketball game in the fourth quarter Thursday night by attacking the basket more, which enabled the Trojans to remain undefeated in the Apollo Conference.

Trailing 38-37, the Trojans outscored the Hearts by an 18-7 margin to improve to 7-2 overall and 4-0 in the Apollo.

By taking higher percentage shots and going to the basket, Charleston flipped its turnover ratio and vastly increased its free-throw attempts in the second half. CHS managed one FT opportunity in the first half, compared to a 13-for-18 effort from the line in the second half. William Applegate made all six of his attempts in the fourth quarter.

“That last quarter we really valued every possession both offensively and defensively,” said Charleston coach Cody Drone. “We worked on getting great looks and playing inside out. It was great team basketball. Defensively, we switched more especially late and it allowed us to be there on the catch and Effingham had difficulty getting great looks because of it. We had great looks on offense most of the night and we were able to knock them down in that fourth quarter. It is nice to see our guys perform so well at winning time.”

Jacken Braun scored a game-high 20 points, including six baskets in traffic in the second half. His rebounding also buoyed the team.

“Braun was an offensive rebounding machine in the second half,” said assistant coach A.J. Alexander.

The Trojans snagged 23 rebounds overall, nine on the offensive boards.

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CHARLESTON: Smitley 3 1-1 9, Pankey 0 0-0 0, Applegate 2 6-6 12, Becker 0 0-0 0, Braun 10 0-3 20, Oakley 2 3-5 7, Burgess 1 4-4 7. Totals 18 14-19 55. 3-pointers – Applegate 2, Smiley 2, Burgess 1.