The Brownwood Lions squandered a 15-point fourth-quarter advantage in their first game at the Brownwood Coliseum Thursday during TexasBank Holiday Classic action, but bounced back later in the day to put an end to a five-game losing streak.

The Lions fell by a 66-60 count in overtime to Big Spring despite leading 46-31 with less than five minutes remaining in the morning contest. Brownwood rebounded with a convincing 71-50 afternoon triumph over Dublin, returning to the win column for the first time since Dec. 12.

“Hats off to our guys,” Lions head coach Will Parker said following the victory. “After playing earlier today and with Dublin having a full rest from last night, it tells you a lot about the guys we have. I’m really proud of their effort and being able to fight through the hard stuff. It wasn’t a run away until the end. It was a battle for 32 minutes and that’s what you want to be able to go through in a tournament.”

Against Dublin, the Lions jumped out to a 21-14 lead after one quarter, carried a 41-36 advantage into halftime, and padded their cushion to 57-45 entering the final eight minutes of action.

“We played to win the game, we didn’t play not to lose and that’s a big difference,” Parker said regarding the key factors to Brownwood ending its recent slump. “The execution down the stretch, being willing to go make the play and not being afraid of making the wrong play, that mindset is different and that’s what we talked about. I have to stop trying to X and O it all the way down the stretch like I did last game and understand we have good athletes on the floor that are putting us in positions to win, so let them go do that.”

Morsello Hooker paced the effort with a team-high 19 points trailed by Casey Friebel and Ike Hall with 12 piece, Hayden Noe with nine, Ross Strasner with eight, Hayden Proffitt with four, Austin Pittman with three, and Grant Gray and Weston Wolf with two points apiece.

Dublin was led by Kaiden Gaitan with 15 points.

In the loss to Big Spring, a 20-2 run by the Steers resulted in a 51-48 advantage with 31 seconds remaining as Gavin Padron scored 14 of his game-high 23 points in the fourth quarter alone. A bucket from Friebel closed the gap to 51-50 with 17 seconds to go, then Big Spring converted just one of two free throws and the Lions pulled down the rebound. Trailing 52-50, Friebel scored on a driving layup with five seconds to go to force overtime.

“We pulled the ball out to get them out of their zone because I think we’re so much better against man to man,” Parker said in regard to the lead evaporating in the fourth quarter. “They came out in man to man and we needed to attack the basket because they can’t stay in front of us, but we got complacent maybe because we were playing against a zone all game and we wanted to make the extra pass and that’s what was in our head. But at some point you have to be a player and rip through and go score, make a play, and we were hesitant and playing not to lose.”

In the extra session, the Lions fell victim to a 9-1 run after Friebel scored the first points on a trey, as Big Spring opened a 61-56 advantage with 1:14 to go.

Hall finished with 17 points, Hooker chipped in 14, Friebel tallied 13, Wolf contributed nine, Stasner notched four points and Pittman sank a three-pointer.

The Lions (9-13) seek back-to-back wins as they battle Wall at 4 p.m. Friday at Warren Gym to close out the Classic.

“We’ll play a tough team tomorrow and you want to string some games together and be able to be consistent once you do,” Parker said. “Basketball is a game of confidence and you have to be confident out there when you’re playing and hopefully this is a step in the right direction.”