A pair of slow starts resulted in deficits too great for the Brownwood Lions to overcome, as they dropped their final two games at the TexasBank Holiday Classic Saturday, 73-53 to Alvarado and 63-59 to Greenwood.
“The sluggish starts, we can’t have,” said Lions head coach Will Parker. “We talk about the margin of victory all the time and those little things, especially at the beginning of a game, it’s big at the end and we have to clean that up. Proud of them for fighting back, but we have to be able to put 32 minutes together.”
In the weekend finale against Greenwood at Warren Gym, the Lions fell behind 23-10 after one quarter, cut the deficit to 35-30 by halftime and trailed just 51-50 heading to the fourth period.
There, Devin Eanes scored following on offensive rebound just 46 seconds into the final period to hand Brownwood a 52-51 lead. Despite the game being tied four times down the stretch, the Lions never led again after grabbing the advantage briefly to start the fourth period.
“I thought when we attacked the basket we got the best looks,” Parker said. “We were making good decisions and finding open guys and those are the things we’re going to have to be able to do when we get to district.”
Eanes again tied the score at 57 and 59 for Brownwood, but with 19 seconds to go Greenwood’s Colton Rauman knocked down the go-ahead shot. The Lions had a chance to tie on the other end, but the attempt was off line, Landen Stewart pulled down a rebound for Greenwood and sank two free throws with six seconds left for the final four-point margin.
“The shots didn’t fall at the end for us, but I won’t take anything away from Greenwood, they’re a really good team,” Parker said. “They’re physical, especially away from the ball and to me we have to have guys that aren’t afraid to back cut and get to the basket rather than hanging out around the three-point line.”
Casey Friebel ignited the Lions offense with 28 points, with 18 of those coming in the second period alone. Elias Perez chipped in 11, Eanes tacked on 10, Durham Brown finished with nine and Noah Pyle added one point.
For Greenwood, Rauman scored 14 points trailed by Stewart and Jonathan Mendoza with 12 each, and Austin Snodgrass with 10 points.
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Alvarado 73, Lions 53
Trailing by four points at halftime, the Lions allowed almost as many points in the third period as the first two combined to fall into a 16-point hole and couldn’t recover.
Down 28-24 at the break, Brownwood faced a 54-38 deficit heading into the fourth quarter. Alvarado’s lead peaked at 21 points, 64-43 on a bucket byEthan Parker with 5:17 remaining. The Lions crept to within 13 points, 64-51, as Ross Strasner capped an 8-0 run with a three-pointer.
The Lions were plagued by 25 turnovers and converted 4 of 6 free throws, while Alvarado committed 14 turnovers and sank 14 of 20 from the charity stripe.
Stranser scored a game-high 25 points to spark Brownwood followed by eight each from Brown and Perez, five apiece from Eanes and Friebel, and two points from Braeden Stacks.
Alvarado received 23 points from Desmond Mitchell, 16 from Parker, 13 from Kentavian Green and 10 points from Cardea Collier to pace its offensive attack.
The Lions (13-9), now on a three-game skid, return to the court at 7:45 p.m. Friday at Gatesville in their final outing before District 6-4A competition commences at Stephenville Friday, Jan. 10.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Parker said. “We have to get in the gym and shoot more, we’re going to have to hit shots, and we’re going to have to continue to rebound as well as I know we can.”
