COLORADO CITY – The Brownwood Lions found themselves down eight points just over 30 seconds into their Region I-4A bi-district battle against the Lubbock Estacado Matadors Tuesday night and were never able to recover, suffering a season-ending 73-42 loss.
The Lions (13-18) yielded two three-pointers and a bucket on an offensive rebound, and also committed four quick turnovers as they were in an 8-0 hole just 38 seconds into the contest. Estacado (22-16) went on to drain five of its seven three-pointers in the opening quarter, and also scored on a myriad of offensive put-backs to open a commanding 29-11 advantage at the end of the opening stanza.
“It was a tough first-round match-up for our guys against the No. 23 team in the state” said Lions second-year head coach Will Parker. “They play a really tough schedule against a bunch of 6A schools that are ranked and that kind of scheduling for them really paid off. We have to figure out a way to be able to handle their kind of pressure, especially in the district we’re in where we don’t play against that. We have to figure out a way to somehow prepare for that a little bit better.”
The Lions, the fourth seed out of District 6-4A, also committed 24 turnovers and did not attempt a free throw until the fourth period, sinking 2 of 5 tries.
District 5-4A champion Estacado led by 20 points, 31-11, just 41 seconds into the second period and established a 46-20 cushion by halftime. Through three periods, the Lions were staring at a 63-30 deficit.
“We counted eight missed layups in the first half and eight second-chance buckets on the other end so that’s a big difference,” Parker said. “We could have kept it a little closer and given ourselves a chance in the second half.”
The Lions were led offensively by Hayden Noe with a team-best 12 points trailed by Ike Hall and Luke Gray with six apiece, Carson Noe with five in his varsity debut, Tristan Salinas with four, Gage Sparks with three, and Morsello Hooker, Trent Loftin, and Hayden Proffitt with two points apiece.
Estacado was sparked by17 points from Devoryea, 13 points from Moses Stephenson, and 12 points from Tim Perez.
“I was really proud of the effort our guys have put into this season,” Parker said. “We’ve got some good seniors that we’re going to miss and some really young guys to excited about. As soon as we process this game, we’ll start thinking about that. We’re going to focus on the good things that happened this season, hug their necks and get out of here.”
Tuesday’s game wrapped up the basketball careers of Lion seniors Gray, Salinas, Ryder Lancaster, Sam Bruton, Jason Jackson, and Thad Hinds.
