The Brownwood Lions wrapped up the first half of District 6-4A boys basketball action Tuesday night at Warren Gym with a crucial victory – a 69-56 upset of the No. 25 Lampasas Badgers.
“You have to protect your home court in this district and that’s a big win for us,” said Lions fifth-year head coach Nadir Dalleh.
Following Tuesday’s results, Brownwood (11-8, 2-2), Lampasas (16-3, 2-2) and Stephenville (14-6, 2-2) currently share second place behind 6-4A front runner and 21st-ranked Glen Rose (20-2, 4-0), which toppled Stephenville, 56-34, in the league’s other game.
The Lions were able to overcome 22 turnovers and a 20 of 42 shooting performance from the free throw line as Bryson Monroe led the Lions with 20 points followed by 19 from Christian Kinzler, 11 from Jakob Hataway, nine from Zach Porter, six from Michael Felts and two points apiece from Nathan Wheelington and Luke Moss.
“We win by 13 points and we miss 22 free throws, I couldn’t watch there for a minute,” Dalleh said. “We made a lot of mistakes, I bet we had 20 turnovers, so we have a lot of work to do, but a win’s a win and we’ll take it.”
Lampasas received 21 points off the bench from Mike Murray, 12 from Nate Borchardt and seven points from Landon Mulcahy to pace its offense.
“We had a two-headed monster going at (Borchardt), he’s probably the best player in the league and we had to do something to hold him down,” Dalleh said. “He makes them go and we knew that from the start.”
Brownwood seized control of the contest in the third period. After yielding the first bucket, which snapped a 32-all tie, the Lions fired back with 12 consecutive points to build a double-digit advantage, 44-34, at the 4:19 mark.
Monroe began the run by hitting one of two free throws, then buried a three-pointer to stake Brownwood to a 36-34 lead. Buckets from Kinzler, Hataway and Felts followed, along with a pair of free throws from Hataway, while the Lion defense kept the Badgers off the scoreboard for 3:43.
The Lions also tacked on the final seven points of the quarter, all in the last minute, to double their advantage and build a 53-39 cushion heading into the fourth period.
A bucket by Porter with 52 seconds left, followed by a trey from Monroe at 16 seconds, then Hataway put back an offensive rebound as the horn sounded to comprise the run.
“That was huge,” Dalleh said. “It was the kids that had played most of the game, Bryson and Jakob, that were getting down the floor and their energy didn’t run out. Our kids buckled down and played great.”
The spurt proved vital as Lampasas reeled off the first five points of the fourth quarter, but a steal and layup by Monroe pushed the Lions’ lead back to double figures, 55-44, with 6:06 remaining.
Lampasas crept as close as eight points, 56-48, following a bucket by Murray with 5:39 to go, but Brownwood answered with the next seven points – three by Porter and two each from Kinzler and Hataway – to put the game out of reach, 63-48, with 2:45 remaining.
“In the second half as much as they were trying to wear us down they were wearing down,” Dalleh said. “We got a lot of easy layups and that helped us get that big lead.”
The first half featured a pair of runs for both teams. Lampasas scored 10 straight in the first period to open a 19-14 lead by quarter’s end. Brownwood answered with a 10-2 surge in the second period en route to a 30-24 lead. The Lions missed their last seven free throws of the half, however, which aided Lampasas as it pulled even at 32 at halftime.
The Lions begin the second half of district action at Gatesville (4-16, 0-4) at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Brownwood won the first meeting at Warren Gym, 70-41, on Jan. 12.
