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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

MONTEVALLO – In a battle of two fresh faces in Class 5A, the Briarwood Christian Lions and Montevallo Bulldogs engaged in a high-energy, well-fought county battle to kick off the basketball season.

In the end though, the Lions held off the Bulldogs’ repeated comeback efforts to take the 60-52 win on Thursday, Nov. 7 at Montevallo High School.

Both teams shot out of the gate and immediately got up and down the court scoring baskets on either side. Demeco Gibson hit a 3-pointer to give Montevallo a 5-2 lead just 50 seconds into the game.

Briarwood then took its first lead of the game off a Drew Mears fast-break layup at the 5:22 mark of the first quarter, and the Lions never trailed from then on.

That didn’t mean the Bulldogs went away quietly as they kept fighting to keep it a one-score game. While Briarwood took a 14-9 lead early in the second quarter, Montevallo immediately scored at the other end and then used a Gibson 3-pointer to tie the game up at 14-14.

With the teams tied at 16-16 just past the midway mark in the second quarter, the Lions hit their stride from deep. They used 3-pointers from Tory Smith and Charlie Caldwell to power a 12-2 run, making the lead 28-18 late in the first half.

Dee Cutts hit a shot from long range to get back within single digits, and the Lions’ lead stood at 29-21 going into the halftime locker rom.

It looked once again as if Briarwood would pull away after Mears hit another 3-pointer in the opening minute of the third to get himself in double figures. That lead grew to 34-21 soon after, but Montevallo kept the game from getting out of hand at the free throw line.

The Bulldogs went on a 5-0 run in the final minutes of the third to make it a two-possession game going into the fourth as the Lions led 45-39.

Both sides exchanged 3-pointers in the opening minute of the fourth before Briarwood put its foot on the gas, forcing Montevallo to call timeout with 6:09 left and trailing 55-42.

However, shortly after the timeout, Gibson crossed up his defender and hit a 3-pointer to ignite the Bulldogs faithful, and that only grew when Cutts got a breakaway dunk to make the score 55-47 with 5:22 left.

Briarwood called timeout shortly after, and the teams were deadlocked without a basket for nearly two minutes following the Cutts dunk.

With Montevallo unable to capitalize off the momentum, the Lions went back up double digits with 3:25 remaining and continued to stay in front down the stretch.

The Bulldogs made it a single-digit scoreline with less than a minute remaining, but that was as close as they would get in the final minutes as Briarwood walked away with the eight-point win.

Mears led all scorers with 24 points. Elsewhere for the Lions, Eli Stubbs scored eight points and Caldwell, Smith and Sam Canale each had six points.

Montevallo turned in some strong individual performances despite the loss. Cutts led the team with 19 points, Gibson had 14 points off four 3-pointers, Buck had nine points and Keiston Ross scored eight points.

The Lions will return to action on Veterans Day when they host Indian Springs on Monday, Nov. 11 at 6:15 p.m.

Montevallo will host the Brookwood Panthers on Monday, Nov. 11 at 5 p.m. for Veterans Day basketball as well.