The Brownwood Lions used an 11-0 run late in the first half to seize control of their second contest in the TexasBank Holiday Classic, then held off a late rally for a 99-95 victory over the Big Spring Steers Wednesday morning at Warren Gym.
“It’s tough for (Big Spring) to score more than 90 points and lose, you don’t see that very often,” said Lions first-year head coach Will Parker. “We had some height on them and we pounded it inside enough to make the difference. We shot the ball really well, but so did they. Our guards handled the ball well and shot well, but we pounded it inside and Luke and Christian did a great job.”
Three Lions, and almost a fourth, contributed at least 20 points for Brownwood – Jakob Hataway with 28, Bryson Monroe with 23, Christian Kinzler with 20 and Luke Moss with 19 points. Ike Hall chipped in seven and Thad Hinds finished with two points.
“That’s what we have to have from these guys,” Parker said of the leading scorers. “We have to be patient enough and fast enough to make the right decisions. They’re seeing what the defense is and then they’re attacking. They’re not waiting too long and they’re not attacking too quick. They’re really good at finding each other and when you have seniors that have played together for so long, that’s nice to have.”
Both teams shot 12 of 20 from the free throw line, while Brownwood committed 18 turnovers and Big Spring gave up the ball 17 times.
For Big Spring (10-8), Chris Martinez tallied a game-high 37 points followed by Gavin Greathouse with 16, Saquan Fizer with 11 and Kaegan Mitchell with 10 points.
The Lions led 24-16 after one quarter but Big Spring drew even at 31 with 3:49 left in the half on a trey by Martinez. Still knotted at 35, Hataway knocked down one of Brownwood’s 10 three-pointers to stake the Lions to a 38-35 lead at the 2:58 mark, which triggered the 11-0 surge. After a pair of Moss free throws, Hataway – who chalked up 21 first-half points – drained two more treys to extend the lead to 46-35 with 1:57 left before intermission. Hataway added another bucket from long range as the Lions owned a 53-41 halftime edge.
Big Spring crept within nine points early in the third period, but back-to-back threes from Hataway and Kinzler with 1:22 to go gave the Lions their largest lead to that point, 73-57.
The Lions carried a 73-61 lead into the fourth period and owned a 90-77 advantage after Hall sank the Lions’ final trey with 3:54 remaining. Consecutive treys from Martinez brought Big Spring within seven points, 90-83, with 3:14 left, as the Steers refused to fade away.
Despite the late surge, the Lions maintained at least a two-possession edge the rest of the contest, with Greathouse burying a trey for the Steers in the closing seconds for the final four-point margin.
With the win, the Lions (14-5) emerged as the Pool A champion and will next face the Pool B third-place finisher Levelland at 5:20 p.m. today at the Brownwood Coliseum.
“I’d like to shoot free throws and better and finish early on,” Parker said of his goals for Wednesday’s second game. “We really left a lot of points out there in the first quarter, we missed a lot of layups. We also can’t give up second-chance opportunities on the other end. I’m always on them about rebounding. Offensive rebounds to me, you get an extra possession and that’s what we want. But down there on the other end we’ve got to limit those and that can always be a big difference in a game.”
