The effort was there for Odessa High, but the rally came a little too late.

The Bronchos hit six 3-pointers in the fourth quarter but it wasn’t enough as they fell to Brownfield 62-53 Tuesday night at the OHS Fieldhouse.

The Bronchos outscored the Cubs 22-8 in the final quarter.

“That Brownfield team we played today is a great team,” Odessa High head coach Anthony Dees said. “We have to put 32 minutes together of what we did the last eight minutes of our half on both offense and defense.” 

Down by 23 points entering the fourth quarter, the Bronchos were looking for a spark on offense and got it from sophomore forward Christian Tijerina.

Tijerina hit four 3-poniters for the Bronchos, scoring 14 of his game-high 20 points in the final eight minutes.

“I just started feeling good shooting,” Tijerina said on his fourth quarter. “My teammates were able to help me get open and I started shooting.”

Odessa High (1-7) was also able to pick up the pressure defensively, keeping a Brownfield team in check for most of the final frame.

“We started breaking the press better than what we had done through the first three quarters,” Dees said. “We also started hitting shots in the fourth quarter and that definitely felt good to see.” 

The first field goal of the quarter for the Cubs came from Zach Muniz, who made a layup with 1:18 remaining for two of his team-leading 17 points on the night.

It was a stark contrast for a Brownfield (5-1) team who got off to a quick start to open the game.

The Cubs opened Tuesday night’s contest on a 7-2 run during the first 2:05 of the game and later pushed the lead to 16-6.

Like Odessa High in the final quarter, Brownfield found a rhythm from the three-point line, making four threes in the first quarter.

Nunie Ramirez hit two of those threes for the Cubs as part of his 14 points on the night.

The Cubs were able to push the lead to 16-6 thanks to a defense focused on setting traps.

But the Bronchos were able to respond thanks to the return of guard Kaleb Murry.

Murry scored nine of his 17 points in the opening quarter to help cut the Bronchos deficit to 22-14 after the first quarter.

He stepped up in the absence of senior forward Ryan Brazeal, who missed Tuesday’s game with an injury.

After a quick layup by Conner Anastasio to open the second quarter, Odessa High looked to chip away further at a 24-20 deficit midway through the second quarter.

But an 11-4 run to close the half by Brownfield put the Bronchos behind double digits at 35-24 at the half.

Brownfield would keep the momentum going early out of the locker room, starting off on a 6-0 run with layups from Malachi Garcia and two buckets from Jaquan Johnson.

The Cubs would continue the pressure and push their lead to 54-31 after three quarters.

That set the stage for the late charge by Odessa High.

The Bronchos were able to cut the deficit down to eight with less than a minute left, but the Cubs were able to hold on and finish off the game.
