A first-quarter timeout seemingly provided the spark Hardin-Central needed to claim a 69-50 Dec. 1 homeopening win over Tri-County in varsity boys basketball. After a seesaw opening four minutes, the Bulldogs watched the Mustangs stage a 12-3 run. With Hardin-Central trailing 22-12, Bulldogs coach Brent Behler called a full timeout late in the first quarter, challenging his boys “to do better, play harder,” he said. “I was a little upset,” Behler said. “I just thought we came in a little full of ourselves. … They punched us in the mouth early. We just didn’t … handle it well and they got up early, and we just needed to get back to doing things the right way. “We just weren’t closing that gap on the kids’ penetration. Our guys weren’t sliding over and we weren’t running the floor correctly. … We weren’t doing what we needed to do and it (timeout) was basically just … (me saying), ‘Hey, we’re going to be steamrolled if we don’t pick it up.’” Hardin-Central picked it up. The Bulldogs…