The Brownwood Lions on Friday night snapped a two-game skid that cost them a District 6-4A basketball championship, chalking up a 101-89 victory over Dublin at Warren Gym in preparation for the playoffs.
The 6-4A second seed Lions (23-9) will face District 5-4A third seed Vernon (14-14) at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in Graham in Region I-4A bi-district playoff action.
As for the Lions’ performance against Dublin, first-year head coach Will Parker said, “It was good for us to get back up and down and hopefully build some confidence back into our guys after two really tough losses. I wanted to do this instead of practice. We got to put the ball in some other people’s hands tonight. Jakob (Hataway) only played about 20 minutes or so, so that was good for us. Christian (Kinzler) and Luke (Moss) both had limited minutes, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Leading 25-23 after one quarter and tied at 27 less than two minutes into the second, Brownwood used a 19-2 run to open a 46-29 lead with 2:42 left before halftime.
The Lions carried a 48-36 edge into halftime, which grew to a game-high 18 points – 60-42 – on a traditional three-point play by Kinzler at the 5:06 mark of the third quarter. By the end of the period, however, Dublin had crept within 75-66.
Clinging to a 75-71 lead with 6:39 remaining, the Lions – aided by three consecutive Dublin turnovers – fired off eight straight points to regain a double-digit cushion of 83-71. Dublin got no closer the rest of the game, eventually tallying the final six points for a 12-point margin at the end of the night.
Kinzler paced the Lions with 23 points followed by Tristan Salinas with 20, Bryson Monroe with 19, Hataway with 15, Moss with 12, Weston Burns with seven, Thad Hinds with three and Hayden Noe with two points.
“Tristan Salinas has just really come around,” Parker said, in reference to what he feels best about heading into the playoffs. “That’s what hard work does and it’s paying off. I really think Jakob is seeing the floor a lot better, he’s trusting the guys that are out there. Christian and Luke, I think are going to be really big match-up problems for people in the playoffs.”
The Lions did commit an unofficial 31 turnovers against Dublin, which Parker stated must improve for Brownwood to have a lengthy postseason run.
“Continuing to move the ball without turning it over, those are things we have to be a lot better at,” Parker said. “Rebounding was OK in the second half but rebounding and defense is what it’s going to have to come down to.”
“We have to get games going like that, get them up and down. The teams we’re going to play aren’t used to playing that fast. If we can dictate the pace, it will be good for us. The teams we’re going to see in the second, third, and fourth rounds, if we get that far, they’re going to want to play a half-court game, so when it gets down to that, that’s when we’re going to have to play a lot better in the half court.”
For District 8-3A fourth seed Dublin (13-13) – which will face City View at 7 p.m. Monday at Mineral Wells in Region I-3A opening round action – Dalan Rasberry led the way with 22 points, Severiano Ruiz added 18, Ayush Patel chipped in 12 and Cooper Hubble and Chris Teten finished with 10 points apiece.
