MOUNT VERNON, Ga. – A new era of Brewton-Parker men's basketball began on Thursday night as the Barons tipped off the 2022-23 season on familiar ground, hosting Paine (Ga.) in Gillis Gymnasium.

Brewton-Parker (1-0) opened the new campaign with a solid performance against the Lions (1-1) in a 75-64 victory. The win secured Head Coach Leonard Epps along with Assistants Jovan Coleman and Deon Williams the staff's first win at the helm of the program on opening night.
 

How It Happened | 1st Half

• Lance Smith scored the first bucket of the season, dropping two points early.
• Both teams opened the game by trading shots back and forth, sharing leads.
• Jordan Johnson connected on a big three-point with the help of Kenny Colwell to boost the Barons to a five-point lead just three minutes in.
• Brewton-Parker followed with a 7-0 run capped by a trey from Colwell to lead 17-8 with 14:56 left to play.
• Paine knocked the deficit down to five points before Aaron Udell answered with back-to-back three-pointers, giving the Barons an 11-point advantage with 11:12 on the clock.
• Just a few moments later, Udell downed another three-pointer to give BPC a 27-14 lead with nine minutes left in the half.
• Buckets from Jeffery Huff and Johnson beefed up the advantage for Brewton-Parker with a free throw coming from Demarcus Johnson Jr to cap off the largest lead in the half.
• The Lions began chipping away at the deficit, eventually pulling the Barons' lead down to five points with 2:38 left to play.
• Brewton-Parker closed out the half on a 9-1 run to lead 43-30 at the break.
• Johnson and Udell led the scoring in the first half with nine points each with Udell going 3-of-3 from beyond the arc.

How It Happened | 2nd Half

• Paine opened the half by knocking the Barons' deficit down to 11 points with 18:19 on the clock.
• Brewton-Parker answered with five swift points from Colwell on back-to-back trips down the floor, leading 50-34 just two and a half minutes into the half.
• BPC built to a 19-point lead with 15:29 left which was the largest lead of the night.
• However, Paine surged to an 8-0 run to land at an 11-point deficit.
• The Barons pieced together a run of their own, scoring five unanswered points over the course of the next few minutes.
• Paine began a resurgence yet again but with a 9-0 run to pull within single digits as BPC led by just eight points with eight minutes left in the game.
• Smith capped off a 9-0 run with a pair of scores from the charity stripe, boosting the lead back to 17 points with 4:22 left to play.
• The Lions did not back down in the final stretch, trying to pull the game within reach.
• Brewton-Parker held tough for the final minutes of the game to secure a 75-64 victory.
• Smith led with a double-digit performance in the second half to help keep the game out of reach for Paine.

Inside The Statistics

• As a team, Brewton-Parker shot for 39.1% (27-of-69) from the field, 38.5% (10-of-26) from three, and 61.1% (11-of-18) from the foul line.
• Smith led the charge for BPC with 19 points, eight assists, eight rebounds, and three steals.
• Colwell and Udell both produced 11 points with Colwell notching a 3-for-6 performance from beyond the arc followed by Udell's 3-for-4 showing from deep.
• Ferlin Joseph also notched eight boards to tie Smith for the lead.

Other Notables

• BPC utilized 16 points off turnovers with Paine producing 13.
• The Lions held a 22-14 advantage in second-chance points while the Brewton-Parker bench held a 21-3 advantage in points.

Next Up

• Brewton-Parker travels to Voorhees (S.C.) on Tuesday night for a 7:30 p.m. ET tip