The Brownwood Lions will attempt to secure the TexasBank Holiday Classic big school championship Thursday after qualifying for the final with a 70-56 victory over Levelland at the Brownwood Coliseum Wednesday night.
The Lions (15-5) weren’t quite as explosive offensively as their first two tournament games, but managed to secure their largest margin of victory during the event.
“After that really long game earlier today I thought we came out OK,” Lions first-year head coach Will Parker said, referencing Wednesday morning’s 99-95 win over Big Spring. “We had to adjust to the fouls being called and we had to play a little differently, but that’s what you have to do throughout the year. What are the officials calling, what are they looking for, and adjust to it. Early on we didn’t do a good job but we adjusted throughout the game. We also had to play without some our starters for a while and that was a good experience for some of those other guys.”
Christian Kinzler and Jakob Hataway poured in 12 points each to pace the Lions followed by 11 from Bryson Monroe, nine from Luke Moss, eight from Ike Hall, seven from Thad Hinds, six from Seth Oines, and five points from Weston Burns.
Levelland (5-13) received 14 points from Taeshaun Jones, 12 from Zameron Lecroy, and 10 points from Caleb Salazar.
“I don’t know how many offensive rebounds they got, but I felt like we limited them to a lot of one-shot possessions,” Parker said. “Defensively, we got them going up tempo and we gave up some easy baskets which is frustrating, but we want teams running. If they’re scoring real quick that just means they have to get back on defense real quick. To us, we have the right mentality and I really like the way we’re playing.”
The Lions led throughout the contest, but Levelland hung close early. After one quarter Brownwood was in front 18-13, and carried a 33-28 lead into halftime.
An offensive putback by Kinzler and a three-pointer from Hataway staked the Lions to their first double-digit lead, 38-28, just 51 seconds into the third quarter. Brownwood extended the cushion all the way to 16 points, 48-32, after a pair of free throws from Hinds at the 4:01 mark. Brownwood sank 22 of 27 free throws in the contest, an area where Parker wanted to see improvement.
Levelland trimmed the deficit to 52-40 by the end of the third quarter eventually closed the gap to 60-50 with 2:56 remaining, but Brownwood maintained its double-digit cushion down the stretch.
The Lions will face either Abilene Wylie or Big Spring at 6:40 p.m. Thursday at the Coliseum in the championship contest. Brownwood also owns an 85-78 tournament win over Wylie.
“I don’t know who we’re going to play but I want us to be able to come out and start fast,” Parker said. “Whoever we’re playing has two games to play before us – tonight and then early tomorrow. Whoever that is, we have a chance to start fast and get them down early and that’s what I’d like to see.”
