The Brownwood Lions used a 5-0 closing run over the final 2:22 of the contest to rally past the Mineral Wells Rams, 42-40, for a District 6-4A boys basketball sweep in Friday night’s home finale at Warren Gym.
“That was a hard fought battle on both ends,” said Lions first-year head coach Jorden Young. “Mineral Wells played hard, they were scrappy, but we matched them punch for punch. It was a game where we were in the driver’s seat for a little bit, and then we weren’t and had to battle back, but we showed some resilience there at the end with a lot of key defensive stops and rebounds to close that one out. I challenged our guys to protect the home court one last time this season, and they did that.”
Down 40-37 with just under two and a half minutes left, the Lions (12-18, 2-7) were the recipients of Carson Noe’s lone bucket of the night to close the gap to 40-39. Then a steal on Mineral Wells’ (12-20, 0-9) end of the court turned into a fast break opportunity and a bucket from Elias Perez with a minute left to push Brownwood in front, 41-40.
Durham Brown tacked on the final point on a free throw with 30 seconds left, while Mineral Wells – which also lost the first meeting, 58-56, on its home court on Jan. 29 – missed two free throws and a chance to tie the game with 15 seconds to go, as well as a three-pointer at the buzzer that could have flipped the final outcome.
The Lions led 19-14 after one quarter and 24-22 at halftime, but fell behind 35-33 going to the fourth period.
Perez led Brownwood with 13 points followed by Judson Coalson with 12 on four three-pointers, including three in the first quarter. Cannon Calvert tacked on seven points, all in the second half, while Brown chipped in four and Noe, Hayden Brumbelow and Grant Gray added two points apiece.
The Lions will close out their season at 7 p.m. Tuesday against Glen Rose (23-10, 7-2) – a 47-40 winner over Graham (19-15, 4-5) Friday night.
“Headed out to Glen Rose, it will be their Senior Night and I know they’ll be fired up,” Young said. “I know they’re a good team, but we were neck and neck with them last time. If we build on what we did last time, it slipped away late, but if we come with the intensity and the drive to close the season out on a strong note I think we can be in that game and give ourselves a chance to win.”