By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor

DORA – In his last two games, Briarwood’s Hayden Lamey has a combined 60 points thanks to two 30 point performances in a row, the latter of which came on Monday, Dec. 17, in a tense 64-63 road victory against Dora High School.

Lamey was the difference in the game from a scoring stand point, but it was actually a team effort defensively in the third quarter that won the game for the Lions.

Briarwood (7-3) entered the third quarter down 37-32, but was able to pull to an even 43-43 tie at the end of the third thanks to a defensive period that saw the Lions give up just six points.

While they only scored 11 points themselves, seven of which came from Lamey, that’s all the confidence they needed knowing they have a scorer that can put up points in the clutch.

That’s exactly what happened and then some.

Lamey was able to post nine more points in the final quarter knocking down a 3-pointer early on in the period, which continued Briarwood’s momentum swing.

The key, however, was the addition in scoring from both Jack Dicen and Chance Beard who combined for nine points themselves to help lead the Lions to 21 points in the fourth.

Briarwood was never able to put the Bulldogs away though as Averiun Berry did his best to keep his team in the game with 11 final-quarter points, including a 3-3 mark at the free throw line.

His valiant effort, however, wasn’t enough to overcome the balance of the Lions, as Dora couldn’t find one more point and finished with 20 in the quarter to fall by the final of 64-63.

Early in the game, Dora showed a ton of physicality defensively, while Briarwood showed an aggressive nature offensively, which led to the Lions earning nine trips to the free throw line and knocking down seven of those nine.

Lamey, who had five or more points in every quarter, got his night off to an impressive start with five points thanks to a 3-4 mark at the line.

Briarwood put up 16 points in the quarter, but the Bulldogs got a ton of balance early on with six scorers in the first quarter to take a 17-16 lead behind three 3-pointers.

That trend continued into the second quarter, as Dora hit four more 3-poitners and had five players score to post 20 points in the period.

For the second quarter in a row, Briarwood posted 16 with just three different players scoring, but Lamey’s nine points were what kept the Lions in the game at the half despite being down 37-32.

That’s when the Lions made halftime adjustments as a team and improved defensively in the third before help came offensively in the fourth.

After knocking down seven shots from beyond the arc in the first half, Dora only hit one in the second half, which became a difference.

Lamey’s 30 points were a game-high, while Dicen posted 13 points. Beard added eight for the Lions.