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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

COLUMBIANA – The Briarwood Christian Lions made the most of their opportunities on the road to grab a commanding victory in the opening game of area play.

Briarwood claimed a 70-33 win over the Shelby County Wildcats on Tuesday, Jan. 7 at Shelby County High School.

The frantic first minute of the game set the tone for two teams who love to get up and down the floor as Drew Mears responded to a Nate Byrne opening shot with a no-look pass to Eli Thompson for the 3-pointer. However, Sutton Reed grabbed the 5-3 lead back mere seconds later with a 3-pointer.

That would be the last Shelby County points for a while as the Lions went on a 15-0 run. Garrett Witherington and Eli Stubbs kicked off the stretch down low before Mears scored the next 11 points to increase the lead to 17-5.

The Wildcats hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final stretch of the quarter as the Briarwood scoring pace slowed down, but the visitors still went into the second with a 20-11 lead.

Shelby County then gave the Lions a brief scare thanks to another Reed 3-pointer and a narrowly missed transition layup right afterwards. That led to a Briarwood timeout and improved response after Tory Smith converted an and-1 and Brayden Robertson made a 3-pointer.

Turnovers continued to plague the Wildcats like much of the first half as the Lions got multiple chances in transition. While Briarwood got two more 3-pointers in the quarter from Charlie Caldwell and Robertson, the team missed multiple open chances in the first half.

Nevertheless, the Lions took a commanding 37-20 lead into the halftime locker room.

Briarwood carried that momentum into the second half and outscored Shelby County 20-8 as it continued to grow the lead. After a Stubbs 3-pointer early in the half, the Lions got two big layups off turnovers as Caldwell and Mears found the rim in transition, the latter of which led to an and-1.

The Wildcats scored five straight points after a timeout with 3:54 remaining in the quarter, but Briarwood rallied with 10 unanswered points to close out the quarter and take a 60-28 lead in the final seconds of the third.

From there, the Lions cruised to victory as the pace of play slowed in the fourth, and coach Jeremy Mears’ side walked away from its area opener with a 35-point victory.

Drew Mears led Briarwood with 18 points and Caldwell joined him in double figures with 13 points. Smith scored nine points, Stubbs earned eight points, Canale had six points and Thompson and Robertson each finished with five points.

Shelby County’s Reed led his team with 12 points off of four 3-pointers. Byrne scored eight points and Ryan Sipes posted six points.

The Lions are now 14-6 on the season and 1-0 in area play. They will travel to Sylacauga to face the Aggies in area play on Thursday, Jan. 9 at 7:30 p.m.

As for the Wildcats, they dropped to 4-14 and 0-1 in area play, with their next game set for Thursday, Jan. 9 at 5:30 p.m. at Central-Clay County in another area tilt.