HOBART | Few were watching the teenage boys play basketball last June. It was in a gym in central Indiana. Hobart played Tri-West. The game turned into a blowout.

The Brickies won by 30.

Big deal, right? A summer game with more people on the floor than in the bleachers. Doesn't mean much does it?

But Hobart was coming off a two-win winter where, if possible, the Bricks got worse every single game.

"That's when I knew things were going to be different," Hobart senior Matthew Brown said. "I knew this was a different group."

Heading into tonight's game at Morton, Hobart is 7-7 and playing very competitive basketball. And it's been awhile since such a thing occurred in the historical football town.

"Last year we didn't do a lot of things right," Hobart coach Mike Black said. "But the kids had a great offseason. They came in with great energy and attitude. The guys had a great summer and that's carried over to this season.

"We're just trying to get better every day. We're playing better now than we did at Christmas. And we played better at Christmas than we did in November."

The improvement in team play has opened the door for Brown, who opened the season scoring 24 against Michigan City Marquette. He also put up 25 against Clark and 26 against River Forest.

Brown is averaging 13.5 points, 4.3 rebounds and two assists a game.

"He comes from a great basketball family," Black said. "They are all football enthusiasts."

His father, Gregg, was best known as being a football player at Hobart, where he led the Brickies to two state championship games before catching passes at Purdue. He only played two years of hoops at Hobart, wearing No. 22.

In 47 games the senior Brown scored 484 points and is 45th in Hobart career scoring. Michael Brown, Matthew's older brother, also wore No. 22. He scored 866 points in 70 games and is ninth on the Brickies' all-time scoring list.

Matthew, who stopped playing football after his sophomore season to focus on basketball, has scored 607 points in 54 games so far. He also wears No. 22 and is No. 22 on Hobart's all-time scoring list.

His sister, Stephanie, played hoops at Hobart, too. Both Gregg and Michael are freshman coaches for the Brickies.

"It's nice having a dad and a brother with keys to the gym," Matthew said with a laugh.

As a sophomore, the current Brown was more of a post player. Each season, through hard work, he's moved his offensive game out to the perimeter more. He's nailed 32 treys so far this campaign.

"We're playing very well together in our system," the humble Brown said. "I've never been a guy who could create shots by myself. My teammates have done a great job getting me my looks. I owe a lot to them."

Brown is getting looks from several small colleges. He plans on following in his brother's path. He wants to become a teacher and coach at the prep level.

But there is work to be done before the final chapter is written.

"We want to leave the program better than we found it," Brown said. "We want to keep getting better and we want to shock some people. It would be great to win a few games in March and see what happens."