Brownwood first-year head coach Will Parker was hoping the Lions would get off a fast start in the TexasBank Holiday Classic boys big school championship game, but sluggish first and third quarters doomed the Lions in a 70-57 loss to the Abilene Wylie Bulldogs at the Brownwood Coliseum.
The Lions (15-6) opened tournament action with an 85-78 triumph over Wylie (11-11), but struggled to establish any offensive momentum in the rematch. Brownwood tallied 30 points in the second period – more than the other three quarters combined as the Lions were limited to eight in the first, six in the third and 13 points in the fourth.
“The start of the first quarter really set the tone for us,” said Parker, whose team trailed 19-8 after one frame. “We’ve got to finish at the rim, help side defense, things that we’ve preached on, taking charges, we just can’t shy away from those things. We fought for 32 minutes, I’m really proud of the effort, it just comes down to the basketball Xs and Os, we have to do better at that. We need some more practice. We’ve only practiced half a day since before Christmas and had two games before then, so we need to get back to the basics. But that’s why we play teams like this in this tournament, so we can get better and see what we need to improve on.”
Thad Hinds and Jakob Hataway led the way for the Lions with 12 points respectively, as the duo combined for 19 points in Brownwood’s 30-point second quarter. Christian Kinzler also finished in double figures with 10 points trailed by Bryson Monroe with nine, Luke Moss with eight, Ike Hall with four and Tristan Salinas with two points.
Wylie was sparked by Mark Fakhoury’s 27 points, while Martin Marshall chipped in 14 and Derek Evans finished with 10. Avery Brekke, who led all scorers with 37 points in Tuesday’s meeting between the two teams, was limited to nine points in the rematch due to foul trouble, and he exited the game late in fourth quarter after being whistled for the fifth time.
The Lions caught fire in the second period, where they buried five of their seven three-pointers in the game. Trailing by as many as a dozen points early in the second, Brownwood crept within a bucket – 31-29 at the 4:06 mark – following a trey by Hinds.
Wylie stretched the lead back to nine points, 38-29, but Brownwood made another charge as Hall’s driving bucket with 61 seconds left before intermission brought the Lions within two points again, 38-36.
“We hit shots in the second quarter,” Parker said. “I don’t know the percent we shot in the first quarter but it wasn’t good. The second quarter we started hitting shots. That’s why we keep doing what we’re doing. We do what we do and I think shots will fall.”
Down 41-38 at halftime, the Lions’ second-half began worse than the first. Brownwood yielded the first 12 points, falling behind 53-38, and didn’t score for the initial 4:07 of the third quarter until Monroe sank a free throw. The Lions converted just one field goal in the third quarter, a three-pointer by Monroe with 39 seconds left that brought the Lions within 11 points, 55-44.
Brownwood was unable to duplicate its second-period surge during the final quarter, as the Lions got no closer than eight points – that coming on another Hinds trey with 1:02 left, making the score 65-57. The Lions failed to score again, while Wylie tacked on five free throws down the stretch for the final margin of victory.
As for facing Wylie twice during the three-day span of the tournament, Parker said, “It’s the same challenge for us that it presents for them. Some adjustments were made and they did some different things. It’s hard, but the guys should be getting up for these games, these are like playoff games. We had a great crowd, a great atmosphere, a great opponent, and I think they were ready for it.”
The Lions venture to Granbury at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday as pre-district action continues. Brownwood’s District 6-4A opener falls on Jan. 14 against Gatesville.
“We’ve got a lot of film to go look at and analyze,” Parker said. “We got to play a lot of guys, and we played a lot of games on back-to-back-to-back days. You look at all those things, you look at the stats, you look at everything you can and then you try and get ready for district, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
