The Brownfield Cubs made a good showing at last week’s Fibermax Caprock Classic Holiday Basketball Tournament in Lubbock.

In the first game they defeated Lubbock Christian High School 55-39, and then downed Floydada in the second game by a 58-47 score.

In the third game they fell to a strong Greenwood team by an 84-77 count, but ended the tournament with a win as they downed Monahans 53-48.

Those games, along with Monday’s win over Snyder, left the team with a 12-6 record for the year.

Against LCHS, the Cubs built an 18-8 lead by the end of the first period, and then stretched the advantage to 32-16 by halftime. In the second half the Cubs held the Eagles at bay, outscoring them 25-23 to come away with the final 55-39 score.

“It was our first game coming back from the Christmas break, so it took us a little time to shake off the rust, especially early in the game with our timing. Plus, the shots weren’t falling,” said Cub Coach Dustin Faught. “But we found a way to win, which is something good teams do even when they’re not playing their best.”

Shun Paiva and Shacolby Hill led the team in scoring with 14 and 12 points, respectively. Paiva also added seven rebound s while Lee Gamez and Ryan Caballero had four rebounds each.

The Cubs faced a bit more of a challenge against Floydada. Brownfield led just 14-13 after the opening period, and the Whirlwinds took a 32-30 lead at the halftime buzzer.

Brownfield trailed by two points, 40-38, heading into the fourth period. However, the squad went on a 20-7 run in the last eight minutes of the contest to chalk up a 58-47 triumph.

“We had problems with them early because they were breaking our press, but I thought we finally hit our stride in the fourth quarter,” Faught said. “We wore them down a little bit with our press. Our legs looked a little fresher. I thought our defense stepped it up and gave us some scoring opportunities.”

Hill led the way with 15 points and eight rebounds while Stephon Smith added 13 points and nine rebounds. Paiva had 13 points while Reese Rowden added nine rebounds for the game.

The Cubs finally met their match in a high-tempo game against Greenwood. In the first period the Rangers jumped out to a 20-12 lead, and then stretched the lead to 39-24 by the halftime break.

Brownfield closed the gap to 45-42 with a strong third quarter performance, but Greenwood went on a 29-23 run in the last period of the game to forge the final 84-76 win.

“Greenwood shot the ball extremely well. They were about 65 percent from the field,” the coach said. “They were also 21-of-23 from the free throw line. I was proud of the way our kids came out in the second half when we were down 15. Our defense really picked up the pace in the second half and we were able to cut the lead down to five points at one point.

“We played them closer than anyone else did in the tournament, and they went on to win it, but it was a good lesson for us. That’s the type of team we’ll see in the playoffs and that will help us down the road.”

Hill led the team with 31 points, while Caballero added 16 points and Korey Nolan added nine points.

In the tournament finale against Monahans, the Cubs and Loboes fought tooth and nail the entire contest. Brownfield led 14-13 at the end of the first period, but the teams were tied 26-26 at the halftime break.

The difference in the game came in the third period when the Cubs went on a 19-12 run as Hill went off for eight points in the period, giving the Cubs a 45-38 advantage. Brownfield then held the Loboes at bay in the last eight minutes for the 53-48 triumph.

Three Cubs were in double figures with Caballero leading the way with 15 points. He was followed by Nolan with 12 and Hill with 11.

I thought we did a good job of bouncing back after the Greenwood loss,” Faught said. There’s a little bit of a letdown when you lose, but we got up for that last game. Monahans is a good team. They had beaten Lamesa earlier in the tournament.

I thought we did what we had to do at the end of the game to finish it out. We tend to not take our best shots when we have a late lead, but we are starting to play a little better. We’re learning how to finish a game.