The Fairchester Athletic Association games are coming up quickly for the Brunswick School basketball team, so now is the time for it to put itself in prime position for the season-ending league tournament.

Though the Bruins have played a lot of non-league games against NEPSAC opponents, Saturday’s matchup against The Masters School marked just their fourth FAA game, so Brunswick was intent on setting the tone from the start.

And that’s exactly what the host Bruins did.

Shooting a high percentage from the floor in the first half, Brunswick built an early 19-point lead on Masters and played from in front thereafter in a 58-48 FAA victory at Dann Gymnasium.

With the win, Brunswick improved its record to 3-1 in the FAA, its loss coming against King School. Overall, the Bruins have a 5-8 mark. The Masters School from Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., is 6-7 overall and 2-2 in the FAA.

Junior 6-foot-2 shooting guard Ethan Long and junior 6-foot-7 power forward Jaylen Prey paced the Bruins’ offense, while junior 6-7 center Matty Augustine led the hosts’ defensive effort.

Brunswick seized a 15-0 lead and was ahead by as many as 19 points at 23-4 in the opening half.

“We came out with some fire, we knew this was a big FAA game,” said Long, who recently made a verbal commitment to play Division I football at Notre Dame. “We wanted to get this win on our home court and we knew we had to jump out and be on them.”

The powerful Prey made a layup off a pass from Long, sophomore point guard Jack Stevens swished a 3-point shot from the right corner and Prey scored from the low post, giving the Bruins a quick 10-0 lead on Masters.

Long scored off a steal, while being fouled, then made his ensuing free throw and converted a short jumper, putting Brunswick on top, 15-0, with 10:22 remaining in the first half.

“We knew once we got hot, there was no going back,” Long said. “We knew that we had them at the beginning, we just had to keep it up.”

A Long jump shot and a layup from Augustine off a Long pass made it 23-4 in favor of the home team. Masters, coached by Joey Kuhl, found some rhythm on offense, however, finishing the opening half with an 11-2 run to close to within 25-15 at halftime.

Consecutive baskets early in the second half by Masters cut the Bruins’ advantage to 29-21, but the hosts got their double-digit lead back.

Back-to-back baskets in the post by Prey, followed by a 3-pointer by Stevens upped Brunswick’s edge to 36-23. Masters again made a run, slicing the Bruins’ lead to 38-32 with 4:32 left in the second half, prompting a Brunswick timeout. Yet the Bruins responded with a 7-0 run with Long, Stevens and Prey converting key shots.

Prey drove the right baseline and threw down a dunk, giving the Bruins a double-digit advantage late in the second half.

“It was good, it’s good to get those league wins in the FAA,” Augustine said. “We got a little sloppy, we can do better, but it’s a positive win for our team.”

Augustine is one of top recruited high school football tackles in the country. He has already received offers to play Division I football from Michigan, Alabama, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Florida State, Michigan State, Tennessee, Florida, Miami, Missouri, South Carolina, Syracuse, Virginia, UCLA, Stanford, Rutgers and numerous other schools.

Coached by Steve Juricek, Brunswick is in action again Tuesday against FAA foe Greens Farms Academy in Westport. The Bruins still have four FAA games remaining on their schedule.

“Today, we knew that we had to execute, play defense,” Long noted. “We know we are better than our record is and we are going to stay positive and attack everybody that comes at us.”

Said Augustine: “The mental toughness we have pushed us through. A lot of losses fed the energy that we had today. Coach always says our energy has to be better coming off warm-ups, so that’s something we focused on today.”