Coming off a shaky showing at Class 2A No. 2 Lipan in the season opener, the Brownwood Lions opened the home portion of their schedule – albeit at the Brownwood Coliseum – under first-year head coach Will Parker Tuesday night and came up short against 3A No. 3 Brock by an 87-82 count.
In a game of spurts, the Lions (0-2) were down four points, 65-61, at the start of the fourth period, but were able to draw even with Brock (1-1) at 70 on a driving bucket by Jakob Hataway with 5:42 left. Brownwood then went scoreless over the next 3:43, which allowed Brock to open a 77-70 advantage and keep the Lions at arm’s length the rest of the contest.
“They’re really fun to watch right now, they’re really giving it their all,” Parker said of the Lions’ performance. “I think we played about 26-27 minutes of really intense basketball. We still have a couple of football guys still trying to find their legs and their rhythm, and the other guys are trying to figure out how it is playing with those guys. But I’m really proud of the effort. Defensively, we’ve got to find it in us in the fourth quarter to be able to stop people and put pressure on them, because I thought we did a good job of that in the first half.”
Bryson Monroe paced the Lions with 23 points trailed by Hataway with 16, Christian Kinzler with 15, Ike Hall with 11, Luke Moss with 10, Weston Burns with five, and Ryder Lancaster with two points.
Brock received 19 points apiece from Tyce Gentry and Hayden Moudy, 18 from Trey Stuart, and 17 from Sawyer Strosnider.
Trailing by as many as a dozen points, 40-28, in the first half, the Lions closed the gap to a single point at halftime – 48-47 – and briefly held a one-point lead before Stuart scored on an offensive putback for Brock shortly before the buzzer.
A 17-4 surge by the Lions pushed them in front, 45-44, following a Monroe three-pointer with 1:21 left in the second period, marking Brownwood’s first advantage since sinking the initial bucket of the contest.
The Lions gave up the first four points of the second half and trailed 52-47, but responded with eight straight – capped by another trey from Monroe – to snatch a 55-52 lead at the 4:54 juncture of the third quarter, their largest advantage of the night.
Brock responded with a 10-2 spurt to claim a 62-57 edge. The Lions crept back within a point, 62-61, on Lancaster’s lone bucket of the night with 1:26 to go in the third, but Brock carried a four-point advantage into the final stanza.
As for what resulted in the final outcome, Parker said, “Brock has a lot of experience, they’ve been playing together since they were 5 and they’ve been doing the same system since they were 5 years old. You get a new coach that comes in here that has a different jargon on the sideline than they’re used to. I don’t want to make any excuses, that’s a dang good team over there, but if you want to talk about the difference between us we’re just not there yet. They’re ranked No. 3 in the state in 3A for a reason, and I think we take a lot of positives away from this but there are also little things we can get better at.”
Among the bright spots for the Lions in the setback, Parker said, “We shot the ball really well. Ike Hall looked really good with the ball, but he has to get stronger with his left hand. Jakob Hataway has put in over 10,000 shots on our Noah (shooting system) and it’s really paying off. I think some other guys are going to start to be inspired by him and the way he’s shooting it to put more time in.”
Brownwood will attempt to land in the win column for the first time under Parker at 7 p.m. Friday as the Lions host Dublin – the school where Parker coached for the previous six seasons.
