The Brownwood Lions chalked up their 10th win in the last 11 outings and flirted with the century mark once more, knocking off the Coleman Bluecats by a 99-74 count Monday afternoon at Warren Gym.
The Lions (12-4) set the tone for their latest victory in the first period, where Brownwood built a 37-16 advantage over Coleman (3-6) late in the first quarter.
“They played a lot harder today than I thought they did Friday,” Lions’ first-year head coach Will Parker said in reference to a 69-58 road loss to 5A Wichita Falls Rider. “That long road trip was a real wake up call for us. We knew we had to come out here and start with more energy and I thought we did that.”
Christian Kinzler led Brownwood with 20 points followed by Luke Moss and Bryson Monroe with 19 apiece, Jakob Hataway with 16, Tristan Salinas with 10, Thad Hinds with eight, and Weston Burns with seven points.
Monroe poured in 11 in the first quarter alone, Moss added 10 and Burns scored all his points in the opening frame to help stake the Lions to a 21-point lead.
“Offensively, 37 points is really good but defensively there’s a lot more we can work on,” Parker said. “Defensively what we were trying to do is keep them out of the middle and really run out on No. 20 (Braxton Smith). He’s just a heck of a player.”
Smith scored a game-high 34 points for Coleman trailed by Jordan Bell with 13, Hunter Lackey with seven, Jadin Jackson with six, Devinar Roberson and Hogan Johnson with four each and Adam Mason with two points.
Leading 37-19 after one frame, the Lions owned a 59-37 advantage at halftime and a 78-58 cushion through three frames. The Lions’ lead peaked at 31 points, 95-64, with 2:39 remaining on a traditional three-point play by Kinzler, who produced 11 points in the final stanza.
Regarding what pleased Parker the most about the Lions’ performance, he said, “The ball pressure was a lot better than it was on Friday. We still have to take a lot more pride in keeping the ball out of the paint. If we can keep guys out of the paint and make them chunk it from outside I think we’ll be a lot better off down the stretch, especially in district.”
The Lions are back in action at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday at Snyder, then host the three-day TexasBank Holiday Classic beginning Tuesday, Dec. 28.
