Thad Hinds scored all 17 of his points in the second half, and buried four three-pointers in the fourth period as the Brownwood Lions roared back to knock off the Graham Steers, 70-66, Friday at Warren Gym in the District 6-4A opener for both teams.
“There was a great crowd and great support tonight,” said Lions second-year head coach Will Parker. “That was a lot of fun to play with. I’m just really super proud of our guys for battling. We had a tough non-district schedule with a lot of ups and downs but they answered the ball tonight and that was fun to watch.
In the midst of a four-game slide, the Lions (11-12, 1-0) trailed 27-26 at hafltime and 46-45 through three periods, but came to life in the final stanza after Graham (13-12, 0-1) opened 51-47 edge.
The Lions chalked up 15 of the next 19 points – fueled by a trio of three-pointers from Hinds – to seize a 62-55 advantage with 3:52 remaining. Brownwood went scoreless over the next three minutes as Graham reclaimed a 64-62 edge behind nine straight points.
But Hinds again rescued Brownwood, draining the go-ahead trey with 39 seconds left for a 65-64 lead. Hinds also added three free throws down the stretch to ice the victory.
‘That’s more points than he’s scored all year,” Parker said of Hinds. “He’s that kind of player and if you watch him in open gym he has nights where he can’t miss. I’m real proud of him for stepping up and taking those shots. When you’re struggling and to be in this environment with this crowd, being able to do what he did, my hat’s off to him.”
Luke Gray led the Lions with 22 points overall, including 12 in the first half to allow Brownwood the chance to stay close prior to intermission. Gage Sparks and Tristan Salinas chipped in eight points each while Morsello Hooker and Trent Loftin contributed seven apiece.
“It’s awesome to have so many guys who can step up on any given night, and I never know who that’s going to be,” Parker said. “It was fun having Sello and Thad out there at the same time. It gives us a little bit more firepower offensively. Then Hayden Noe coming off the bench in the second half gave us some little things on the defensive side and Trent Loftin played some really big minutes weren’t expecting. All in all it’s a lot of fun having Gage and Tristan, two ball handlers out there having fun and I think they limited the number of turnovers they’ve been having.”
Graham’s Keion Shead led all scorers with 24 points while Kolby Spurlin chipped in 20 and Ty Thompson contributed 14 points.
At 7:15 p.m. Tuesday, the Lions travel to 6-4A rival Stephenville to face the Yellow Jackets for the second time. Brownwood knocked off Stephenville, 56-46, in the Dublin tournament on Dec. 3.
