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Briarwood took down Woodlawn in dominant fashion on Tuesday, Jan. 22, thanks in large part to strong free throw shooting. (Reporter photo/Keith McCoy)

By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor 

NORTH SHELBY – The Briarwood Lions boys basketball team has been on the verge of several big wins since area play started two weeks ago, but the Lions have come out on the heartbreaking end of a few losses.

On Tuesday, Jan. 22, with head coach Bobby Kerley at home recovering from the flu, the team banded together and was determined to make their coach feel a little better by completely dictating a game against the Woodlawn Colonels.

After losing to the Colonels 70-66 on Jan. 15, the Lions came out with a different determination in this one to not even make it close and thanks to 22 points from Hayden Lamey and an unreal 20-21 mark from the free throw line, Briarwood was able to use that determination to grab a 72-48 win.

The first two quarter defined the entire game and pushed the Lions out to a large lead thanks to 41 combined points to give the team an extra boost.

In the opening period, Briarwood (12-10, 2-3) got at least three points from five different players led by five points from Sam Russell who was coming off a game where he drained a buzzer-beater against Sylacauga a few days earlier.

The Lions ended up hitting nine field goals in the frame, but more importantly, they limited the Colonels to three field goals and 10 points in the quarter to take a 21-10 advantage in the early going.

In the second period, Briarwood’s offense was still clicking, but this time in a different way as the Lions poured in four 3-pointers from four different players to post 20 more points before the half.

Woodlawn ended up tying their best quarter of the game thanks to 15 points, 10 of which came from Kelvon Townsend, but that wasn’t enough to keep Briarwood from extending its lead as the Lions took a 41-25 lead into the half.

Coming out of the half, the Colonels wanted to improve their defense drastically, while Briarwood was disappointing in giving up 15 to close out the first half.

That extra focus from both teams on the defensive end of the floor led to a much lower scoring third quarter.

Briarwood had its lowest total of any period during the game with 13 points, but Lamey continued playing well with one 3-pointer and a 4-4 mark at the free throw line to post seven more points for the Lions.

Defensively, the Lions were able to put together an impressive third quarter limiting Wodlawn to just eight points on three made field goals, while only sending the Colonels to the free throw line four times.

That allowed Briarwood to once again extend its lead to 21 points at 54-33 heading to the final quarter.

Just needing to make free throws and keep Woodlawn from having too many possessions, the Lions iced the game in the final quarter thanks to two 3-pointers from Chase Travis and a combined 12-12 mark at the free throw line from Lamey, Jack Dicen and Chance Beard.

Briarwood was led by Lamey with 22 points, while Dicen added 10 points and Beard and Cal Reebals posted eight points apiece. Nine different players scored for the Lions in the win.

Photos available at Shelbycountyphotos.com.

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