After a sluggish start, the Brownwood Lions forged in front midway through the first period and were able to keep the San Angelo Lake View Chiefs at bay in a close contest Tuesday night at Warren Gym, emerging with a 75-69 victory.
The win was the second in a row for the Lions (4-3), coming off a 60-46 triumph over Stephenville in their final game at the Dublin tournament on Saturday. Lake View – which trailed by as many as a dozen points in the second half but refused to fade away – slipped to 4-7 with the loss.
“Playing those teams that get up and down the floor helps us get in shape in a little bit faster,” said Lions second-year head coach Will Parker. “I knew this was going to be a good one for us because they like to run and we like to run and that’s what we need to work on – making decisions on the fly in stressful situations. We try and duplicate that in practice, but it’s hard. We want the game to slow down out here so this is really good for us and should help us down the road.”
Brownwood led 25-20 after one quarter, 43-38 at halftime and 62-55 through three periods.
Luke Gray led the charge with 19 points followed by Tristan Salinas with 14; Jason Jackson, Trent Loftin and Hayden Noe with eight apiece; Morsello Hooker with six; Sam Bruton with four; Caleb Clawson and Thad Hinds with three each; and Hayden Proffitt with two points.
“It was a great team victory and a lot of guys came off the bench which allowed us to put a lot of guys in a lot of different situations,” Parker said. “When you put players out of their position and out of their comfort zone at times, I feel like that makes them a better player. You move a one to the two, or a two to the four, and then there’s guys coming out from football having to learn different positions, it’s only going to help them out down the road. Having these games where we can do that, guys getting in foul trouble and other guys stepping up, I’m really proud of them.”
Lake View was sparked by R.J. Bohannon with 19 points, Tony Cabrera with 15, and Carlos Robledo with 14 points.
The Lions yielded the first seven points of the game, but a trio of three-pointers from Salinas and a bucket by Hooker put Brownwood up for good, 11-7, with 5:38 to go in the first period.
Brownwood stretched its lead to 11 points in the second period, 39-28, following another trey from Salinas as the Lions converted eight shots from long distance before halftime, but only one over the final two quarters.
Committing 19 of their 26 turnovers in the first half and being outscored 10-1 at the free throw line resulted in the Lions leading by just five points at halftime. Brownwood extended its advantage to a game-high 12 points, 54-42, on a bucket by Hooker at the 5:36 mark of the third quarter, but Lake View crept within seven points by the end of the quarter.
Then, in the fourth period, Taven White’s bucket at the 5:35 mark brought the Chiefs within a single possession at 64-61.
As for what went wrong during Lake View’s surge, Parker said, “We have to shoot the ball better, and we have to hang our hat on our defense this year. Defense and finishing is what we work on everyday and that’s got to get better.”
The Lions, who had attempted five free throws through the first three quarters, were finally able to get to the line in the fourth quarter after the lead dwindled to three points. Brownwood went on to connect on 7 of 9 shots from the charity stripe in the final period, including a string of 4 out of 5 – along with a Jackson bucket – that boosted the lead back to 70-61 with 4:02 to go.
The Chiefs continued to pose a threat, but could get no closer than six points down the stretch as the Lions hung on for the win.
“We’re getting better at that,” Parker said in regard to holding off teams late in games. “The Stephenville game we were up 20 the whole second half until the last four minutes. We’ve been focusing on situations like who we’re trying to get the ball to or where we’re trying to get the ball, and I thought we really executed that today.”
The Lions will take part in the Brady tournament Thursday through Saturday.
