“I’m super proud of how they came out after Christmas break,” said Lions head coach Will Parker. “You know you’re going to have some sloppy play and turnovers that are unforced and missing some shots, but they played with confidence despite it being sloppy at times. I’m just happy to be back out here.”
The evening contest was the first of the tournament for Brownwood (13-6), while Early suffered an earlier 71-37 loss to La Grange, who the Lions will face at 10:40 a.m. Friday back at Warren Gym.
“La Grange is big and physical and get half of their misses, so we have to put a body on them,” Parker said. “They’re a great rebounding team and if we rebound like we did tonight it’s going to get pretty ugly pretty fast. That’s the message to the guys tonight.”
The Lions coasted past Early, 62-32, back on Nov. 19, and Thursday’s game was tied at 10 late in the first period until Elias Perez – who tallied 18 points in the first meeting – buried three consecutive three-pointers as Brownwood established a 19-10 advantage it would never relinquish.
“It was a 9-0 run with all three of those being three-pointers there so that was big,” Parker said. “Elias had a big game against them last time and I messed up and probably didn’t play him enough in the second half, but for a sophomore I’m super proud of him and the confidence the guys have in him.”
Leading 19-10 after one quarter, the Lions stretched the lead to 40-25 by halftime and 60-45 heading into the fourth period.
Casey Friebel poured in a game-high 32 points for Brownwood followed by Perez with 11, Bennett Windham with eight, Ross Strasner with seven, Durham Brown and Devin Eanes with five each, and Noah Pyle with four points.
For Early, Camden Myers led the charge with 19 points trailed by Andrew Reedy with 15, Weston Barton with 10, Cooper Schults with six, and Darryl Watkins, Sam St Ama and Rhett Williams with two points apiece.
The Longhorns will be the third-place team from Pool C of the Boys Gold Bracket, having lost to both Brownwood and La Grange, and do not play again until 10:40 a.m. Saturday at the Coliseum when they meet the third-place team from Pool B, either Alvarado or Jarrell. Early will then battle the third-place team from Pool A, either Gatesville, Greenwood, or Academy, at 5:20 p.m. Saturday at Warren Gym.
As for the Lions’ goals for the rest of the tournament, Parker said, “We have district starting on Jan. 10 and we have to do things the right way now and continue to build the habits we’re going to have to have when we go up against those teams.”
