The Brownwood Lions squandered a 13-point first-half lead, rallied from a five-point deficit in the fourth quarter, and opened a four-point advantage with just 86 seconds left. But the Stephenville Yellow Jackets scored eight of the final nine points to the stun the Lions, 59-56, Friday night at Warren Gym and complete a District 6-4A boys basketball sweep.
“We definitely have to finish,” said Lions second-year head coach Will Parker. “We have to keep attacking, which got us a good lead in the first quarter, then we stopped doing it. What really helped us in the first half, we stopped doing in the second half and we have to figure out how to get that done.”
Tristan Salinas tallied 11 points for the Lions followed by nine from Luke Gray; eight from Morsello Hooker, six each from Ike Hall, Ryder Lancaster, and Jason Jackson; four from Thad Hinds; and three each from Gage Sparks and Trent Loftin.
Sixteen points from Stephenville’s Payton Poston served as the game-high while Yellow Jacket Tristian Gentry contributed 14.
Stephenville (12-16, 2-3), which hasn’t beaten another team in the district, trailed the Lions (12-15, 2-3) by a 19-6 count with 6:59 left in the second period, and eventually experienced an 8:57 stretch without a field goal. But the Lions were unable to put the Yellow Jackets away, as Brownwood followed with no buckets over a 6:18 span, which allowed Stephenville to storm back and close the gap to 23-19 at halftime.
The Yellow Jackets carried that momentum into the second half and eventually grabbed a 28-26 lead at the 6:19 mark of the third quarter, but the Lions clawed back and moved back in front, 34-32 on a three-pointer by Salinas. Stephenville answered with seven points in a row to claim a 39-34 lead, but the Lions drew even at 31 on a bucket by Gray with 1:22 to go. With six seconds left in third, however, Stephenville was able to grab a 43-41 edge it carried into the final eight minutes.
There, the Lions faced a 49-44 deficit with 5:07 remaining, but staged an 11-2 run that appeared to secure the victory. A three-pointer by Hooker brought the Lions within 49-47, then back-to-back offensive putbacks by Jackson knotted the score at 51.
With 1:41 left, the tie was finally broken following several near misses for Brownwood as Salinas converted one of two free throws after a technical foul on the Stephenville bench, giving the Lions a 52-51 edge. But the Lions’ 13 of 28 performance at the charity stripe was one of a few reasons for Brownwood’s downfall.
“Like we preach, free throws are big and we have to be able to make those if we want to win ball games,” Parker said. “Hats off to Stephenville, they came to play, had a good game plan for us and executed very well.”
At the 1:26 mark, Lancaster drained a three-pointer and the Warren Gym crowd erupted, but the celebration for the Lions was short lived.
Brownwood mustered just one free throw the rest of the way, and committed its only two turnovers of the fourth quarter after Stephenville knotted the game at 53 on a three-pointer by Eli Hiitola with 41 seconds left, and after Hyson Foreman hit a pair of go-ahead free throws with six seconds on the clock.
“They made more shots than we did, and we have to go back and watch this one very quickly because we have a big game tomorrow,” Parker said.
Brownwood will attempt to rebound at Graham (15-14, 2-3) – which fell against first-place Glen Rose, 53-37, Friday – at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. The Lions won the first meeting between the two teams, 70-66, at Warren Gym in the 6-4A opener.
