STEPHENVILLE – Seeking to earn their first District 6-4A victory and halt a seven-game losing streak, the Brownwood Lions owned a seven-point lead over the Stephenville Yellow Jackets less than a minute into the second period Friday night.
The Lions, however, yielded the next 16 points and never recovered as Stephenville grabbed a six-point halftime edge en route to a 52-39 victory.
Brownwood (10-22, 0-6) was in front of Stephenville (16-13, 3-2) by an 18-11 count 34 seconds into the second period following a bucket by Ross Strasner, but failed to score for the next 7:21 as Stephenville surged in a front, 27-18, prior to Strasner draining a three-pointer with five seconds left before intermission.
After owning its largest lead of the game, Brownwood mustered just 21 points ove the final 23:26 of the contest, while Stephenville poured in 41 points in the same time span.
“We struggled to put it in the bucket against their zone a little bit,” said Lions third-year head coach Will Parker. “I’m proud of the fight we had, but sometimes the ball just doesn’t go in. Hats off to Stephenville for being ready to play, but we have to come in and find a way to get a bucket. We’ll go back and watch the film and try and figure out what we did wrong.”
The Lions committed five turnovers in the opening period, but followed with nine in the second quarter and finished with 23 giveaways in the game, which also aided Stephenville’s turnaround.
“We were trying to rotate through our point guards and find a good rotation, sometimes it’s point guard by committee, and for the most part the guys that had the ball in their hands were doing the best they could,” Parker said. “We have to find a way to get open in space and then keep attacking the basket. To me, that’s where we’re at our best. Throwing it around on the outside just wasn’t working tonight. We have to find a way to get downhill.”
Morsello Hooker and Casey Friebel scored nine points each to lead the Lions followed by eight from Strasner, seven from Noah Pyle and six points from Hayden Noe.
For Stephenville, Xavier Gonzalez tallied 14 points, Brighton DeVivo chipped in 13, and Ryan Gafford scored eight points to help lead the charge.
The Lions have a bye Tuesday, then visit Glen Rose (17-13, 6-0) on Friday, Feb. 9. Brownwood wraps up the regular season at home Tuesday, Feb. 13 with a visit from Mineral Wells (7-25, 2-3).
