A rocky week against the Abilene ISD Class 5A schools came to a conclusion for the Brownwood Lions, who dropped their second straight contest, 88-50, to the Abilene High Eagles Friday night at Warren Gym.
The defeat follows a 62-35 setback at Abilene Cooper Tuesday, as the Lions (8-6) continue to search for consistency on offense.
“Hats off to Abilene, they had a great game plan,” Lions second-year head coach Will Parker said after the contest. “We have to figure out offensively how to get other things going other than Tristan (Salinas). We tried to put as many different combinations in there and players in there in different roles to try and figure it out. Patience is a really big thing for us right now, we can’t expect to make one change and everything work. As coaches, we have to find a way to get our players going.”
Salinas again paced the Lions with 15 points followed by Morsello Hooker with seven, Ryder Lancaster with six, Sam Bruton with five, Luke Gray and Trent Loftin with four each, Jason Jackson and Hayden Proffitt with three apiece, Hayden Noe with two and Gage Sparks with one point.
For Abilene High, Brooks Reese scored a game-high 16 points trailed by Eric Salazar with 15, Connel Colley with 13, Jake Breckenridge with 12, and Chris Motl with 10 points.
The Lions – who unofficially committed 22 turnovers and converted just 3 of 8 free throws – trailed Abilene High 27-15 after one quarter, 44-33 at halftime, and 67-40 through three periods.
Trailing by as many as 17 points in the second period, 41-24, the Lions’ best surge of the night was a 9-1 run that closed the gap to 42-33 with 58 seconds left before intermission. Hooker contributed a pair of layups, Bruton hit a jumper and Salinas knocked down a trey to bring Brownwood within single digits for the final time, as Abilene pushed the lead back to double figures before halftime, then scored the first six points of the third period.
The Lions (8-6) will attempt to return to the win column as they play their final game before Christmas at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday when they host Snyder.
