Ted Brisco didn’t mince words in assessing his early performance Saturday against Russell Christian.

“I knew I was playing terrible in the first quarter,” Brisco said of a first period in which he didn’t score a point and turned the ball over six times.

The next three quarters made everyone in the gym forget those early missteps.

Brisco finished with 25 points and 20 rebounds as the Eagles picked up a 57-52 victory over Russell Christian. He went 9-of-13 from the field after missing his first five shots and played most of the fourth quarter with four fouls.

“I had to be more aggressive. I was being too passive and I was getting my passes picked off. I had to attack more,” Brisco said.

P.J. Lassiter had 17 points and 10 rebounds for PCA. Aston Temple led Russell with 15 points and 14 rebounds, and Dylan Nolan scored 16 points.

PCA never trailed, but it was Brisco who helped extend an early lead and keep Russell (5-1, 1-1 District 5-A) at bay late. He had 10 points and seven rebounds in the second quarter alone as the Eagles (4-0, 2-0) took a 30-21 lead into halftime. They stretched that to as many as 15 points in the third quarter before Russell got hot from 3-point range and made a run.

The Warriors hit six 3-pointers in the second half and got within two or three points on several occasions in the fourth quarter. Brisco hit two key baskets to once again make it a two-possession game, and had four defensive rebounds down the stretch to end possessions by Russell.

The Warriors got as close as one point, at 53-52 on Tyler Bolden’s 3-pointer with a minute to go, then didn’t score again. The Eagles hit four free throws in the final 35 seconds — the last two by Brisco with 5.9 seconds left — to ice it.

(G) Russell 29, PCA 14

Blair Robinson had nine points and eight rebounds, and Anna James totaled six points, six steals and 13 rebounds to lead Russell Christian past Porters Chapel.

Russell shot 19.7 percent (13-for-66) from the field and was outrebounded 39-37 by PCA, but the Lady Eagles were unable to capitalize. They hit just 6 of 38 shots from the field and 2 of 9 from the foul line.

Morgan Ross led PCA with five points and 10 rebounds.