LAKE WALES, Fla. – The Brewton-Parker men's basketball program headed south on Saturday to take on Warner (Fla.) to open the 2021-22 campaign.

Unfortunately, the Barons (0-1) were defeated 87-67 by the Royals (1-0) to open the season but they are looking ahead to the return to Mount Vernon for the home opener on Tuesday night.

Head Coach Stephen Birchfield gave his thoughts after the game. "We played in spurts tonight and in those moments, there was some of the best basketball I have seen while coaching at BPC," Birchfield said. "Chance Hatcher was a leader on the court and our new guys were able to show how valuable they can be."

"Unfortunately, we played a highly experienced team in Warner, and they were ready for whatever we had to throw at them," Birchfield added. "They are a good team, and it was a great test for our guys.

"Our group of guys are talented, and they work extremely hard," Birchfield mentioned. "We must focus on doing the little things right because that is what determines how well we do each night. Tonight, we did not do enough of the little things correct despite a great collective effort."

How It Happened

• The Barons opened the scoring in the first half and traded blows with the Royals for the first few minutes of action.
• Warner managed to get up to a 10-point lead within the first six minutes, but Brewton-Parker fought hard to tie the game at 22-22 after a bucket from Antrell Williams at the 12-minute mark.
• The Royals pulled away and regained control of the score as they moved their lead back to double digits. Warner led Brewton-Parker 46-32 after the first 20 minutes.
• Warner continued their dominant play after the break by adding to their lead to open the second half.
• The Barons were doing their best to close the deficit early on with baskets from Hatcher and Williams, but the Royals' scoring was deemed to be too potent for Brewton-Parker.
• Warner began pulling further away as time went by. The Royals were able to move their lead to 30 points at one point in the half, but the Barons were not out for the count.
• With a handful of buckets made, the Barons pulled within 16 points but that was the best they could muster, unfortunately.
• The Royals were able to close out the game with an 87-67 win.

Inside The Statistics

• Williams led the offensive efforts for Brewton-Parker with 21 points. He also gathered seven rebounds while earning a team-high four steals on the defensive end.
• Hatcher notched a double-double performance to open the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds on the night.
• As for a few other Barons who gathered points, Bryce Wilson totaled nine points with Griffin Cherry and Jacob Casola garnering seven points apiece.
• As a team, the Barons shot for 49.1% from the field and 31.3% from beyond the arc.
• Brewton-Parker finished 8-for-16 from the charity stripe.
• Off the glass, the Barons outrebounded the Royals 36-26 but were outdone with a total of 18 turnovers to Warner's 11.
• On the defensive side, Warner gathered 14 steals while Brewton-Parker tallied eight.
• Defensively, BPC allowed Warner to shoot 48.3% from the field and 35.7% from distance.

Other Notables

• There was a total of three lead changes on the night. Brewton-Parker had its only lead of the night to open the game with the other two changes coming from ties early on.
• The Barons had 17 points come from the bench as well as 16 second-chance points on the night.
• Warner took advantage of BPC's misfortunes as they managed to tally 34 points off turnover while the Barons could only produce 11.

Next Up

• Brewton-Parker returns to action on Tuesday as they are set for the home opener against Thomas (Ga.) at 6 p.m. ET.