The Fort Benning Ballers of the Columbus Parks and Recreation Youth Basketball League defeated the Bi-City Longhorns Saturday 43-21, giving Fort Benning a 5-0 record midway through the 10-game season.

Fort Benning coach Anthony Bracken said his team has shown a lot of chemistry and has worked well together in each game.

“I’ve got a system and they are buying into the system,” Bracken said. “They are doing everything I’m telling them to do and that’s why we’re winning.”

What’s surprising is that the Ballers have had a difficult time finding a consistent place to practice throughout the week, he said.

“Once, maybe twice when we can,” Bracken said when asked how many times his team practices per week. “When we do practice, we practice hard.”

Watching the way the Ballers play, it would be hard to notice they have limited opportunities to practice.

Six of the seven players on Fort Benning’s roster scored against Bi-City. Darren Douglas and Tremarcs Hackney led the Ballers with 14 points each.

Fort Benning pulled away in the second quarter after going on a 10-0 run to give them a 25-9 lead at halftime.

Fort Benning began to get too comfortable in the third quarter, letting Bi-City go on a 9-2 run. However, the Ballers came back out in the fourth quarter and closed the game with a 12-3 run.

“In that third quarter they got a little bit complacent,” Bracken said. “In the fourth quarter I settled them down.”

Fort Benning will continue their season against Shirley Winston No. 2 at 8 p.m. Thursday. Bracken said he hopes to be able to practice more throughout the week during the second half of the season.