Jessie Walker and his Brainerd teammates just listened during halftime of the Panthers' District 6-AA basketball game Friday at Red Bank.
"Coach (Levar) Brown did almost all of the talking," Walker said. "He made his point."
With a furious defensive effort in the third quarter, Brainerd turned a one-point game at halftime into a comfortable 69-56 victory over the Lions.
"We started attacking gaps instead of jacking shots," Brown said. "We're always better when we play inside-out."
The Panthers played their best on Friday with defensive pressure known as "Black" - their version of a 1-2-2 full-court press. The Panthers kept it in their back pocket until the second half.
It didn't necessarily create a vast amount of turnovers, but it flustered the Lions and allowed Brainerd (10-3, 3-1) to build a four-point lead to eight, then nine and eventually 10 by the end of the third quarter.
Red Bank (9-8, 0-5) never could quite catch the break it needed - a pair of free throws, a defensive stop, an offensive rebound - to slow Brainerd's momentum in the third quarter.
"The third quarter is always ours, but I want the first and second quarter, too," Brown said. "We realized that we were lackadaisical in the first and second quarters and did some things that we preached all week that we wouldn't do, like going under screens, because (the Lions') Malik McConnell can shoot it from one rim to the other like a free throw. We did adjust to little things like that."
Walker led the Panthers with 28 points, including 17 in the second half. Dajuonta Ross added 10.
The Lions got 17 points from senior Will Davis before he fouled out in the fourth quarter. Kolbi Suttles also scored 17, and McConnell finished with 14 after attempting a few long 3-pointers to try to get his team a little momentum.
"When you shoot (48 percent) from the free-throw line, that's aggravating," Red Bank coach Nick Fike said. "No knock on Brainerd, but we beat ourselves. I thought our defensive scheme was great and we executed well, but I'll say it until I'm blue in the face that free throws killed us."
The Lions were 12-of-25 from the stripe.
"When you do hit those free throws, it's a psychological 'Here we go!'" Fike added. "Our 1-3-1 bottled them up and we played out our pace in the beginning; then the third quarter came around, and that's been our crutch.
"From here on out it's district games and difficult games. It's time to put up or shut up."
Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP