In a game of spurts, the last one belonged to the Brownwood Lions who tallied the final six points to rally past the Snyder Tigers for a 36-35 non-district victory Tuesday afternoon at the Brownwood Coliseum.
“We had enough energy at the end to finish the game, and enough energy to get a loose ball and put it in,” said Lions assistant coach Derrick Stacks, who filled in for head coach Nadir Dalleh who was out again Tuesday with pneumonia.
Down 35-34 with 46 seconds left, the Lions (6-6) forced a Snyder (6-4) turnover on a steal by Jakob Hataway. At the other end of the court, Brownwood coughed up the ball, but at midcourt Hataway again swiped the ball away from Snyder and fed Christian Kinzler, whose finger roll with 22 seconds left resulted in the decisive points.
Buckets by Kinzler with 4:43 remaining and Bryson Monroe with 1:44 left allowed the Lions to shave Snyder’s five-point advantage to a single point.
Then, on Snyder’s final possession, the Tigers called timeout twice – with 13 seconds left and with 2 seconds on the clock – as the Lions’ defense refused to give up an open look at the basket. Snyder’s final gasp was a pass into paint from near half-court after its final timeout, which the Lions knocked away allowing time to expire.
“We did a good job switching those screens and playing around them, getting underneath and stepping up,” Stacks said. “We knew who their shooters were outside and tried to take that away.”
Overall, Brownwood held Snyder scoreless for the final 5:16, which set the stage for the Lions’ comeback.
“That was huge,” Stacks said of the final defense stand. “If they’re not scoring and we’re chipping away we have a chance to win at the end.”
Kinzler led the Lions with 20 points trailed by Monroe and Hataway with six apiece and four points from Michael Felts.
Snyder received 11 points from Zach Miller, seven from Christian Escobedo, four from Yajat Bhakta, three each from Maverick Hernandez and Jared Smith and two points from Zazch Meador.
Tied at 9 after one quarter, Snyder opened a 17-9 lead with 3:12 left in the half. Brownwood finally tallied its first points of the second period on a bucket by Felts with 2:58 to go, which triggered a closing 10-2 run that evened the score at 19 at halftime.
In the third period, the Lions reeled off nine straight points – four from Monroe, three from Hataway and two from Kinzler – to seize a 28-21 advantage with 2:23 left in the frame.
Led by Miller scoring on offensive rebounds in the paint, Snyder fired back with 12 consecutive points, opening a 33-28 lead with 4:17 left in regulation.
A bucket from Kinzler with 5:38 to go brought the Lions within three, 33-30, snapped the Tigers’ run and marked Brownwood’s first points in a span of 4:51.
Snyder’s final points were scored with 5:16 remaining on another bucket in the paint by Miller.
“There were a couple of times where we weren’t so energized and they got some offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter and put them back in,” Stacks said. “That’s what separated the game back open.”
The Lions are off until Dec. 29 and 30, when they host back-to-back games at the Brownwood Coliseum against Wichita Falls Rider and Crane.
As for what the conclusion of Tuesday’s contest will do for the Lions’ confidence going forward, Stacks said, “I hope we start gelling now so we can start playing at the level Coach Dalleh and I expect us to play at.”
