By BO ALLEGRUCCI
Salina Journal
A new movie, Lamb for the Lions, premiered Monday at St. John's Military School.
Brown Mackie guard Kenon Lamb shot 11 of 19 from the floor and 6 of 9 from 3-point range for a career-high 30 points, and BMC ended a six-game losing streak with an 81-58 dusting of the Bethel JV.
Brown Mackie shot 45 percent from the floor and 14 of 18 from the free-throw line as a team, and three Lions joined Lamb in double figures. Head coach Francis Flax also installed a full-court trap that the Lions used to cause 21 Thresher turnovers.
Lamb's hot hand also helped the Lions avoid the slow start that has plagued them in 2008.
"This season is far from over, and coach Flax told me I have to step up on offense," Lamb said. "That's all it was tonight ... I have to step up, and we needed a win bad. Their zone was a little loose, and that gave us a lot of open looks, and we just hit some shots that got our offense going."
Brown Mackie trailed 7-6 early before scoring 20 unanswered points as part of a 28-5 run. Lamb started the dash with a 3-pointer and later nailed a triple on three consecutive Lion possessions to make it 30-9 BMC with 6:48 left in the first half.
Bethel turned the ball over six times and went nearly seven minutes without a field goal to help Brown Mackie pull away, but the Threshers closed the first half with a 7-1 run that cut the halftime deficit to 43-26.
Jacob Jordan scored 8 of his 12 points in the first 20 minutes in a support of Lamb.
"We moved the ball a lot better tonight and that freed up our offense to do some things we hadn't been doing lately," Flax said. "We were looking for Kenon when he was on his tear, and it didn't matter who we were playing tonight, we needed a win. This couldn't have come at a better time."
Bethel turned the ball over on five of their first six possessions to start the second half, and Brown Mackie tucked the Threshers in with a 15-5 run. BMC's lead never dipped below 19 in the second half, and it peaked at 72-47 with 4:46 to play.
Tyrone Sheppard finished with 13 points for the Lions, and Shawn Sullivan led Bethel with 13.