Little by little, Brainerd continued to build a first-half lead in Friday’s District 6-AA boys’ high school basketball game at Howard. Then in the second half, the Panthers seemed to add to it a lot by a lot.
The Panthers ended up winning their district opener 71-38, turning a 16-point lead midway through the third quarter into a 64-32 lead with a 19-3 run.
Brainerd (2-0) scored the first seven points, but the Hustlin’ Tigers were within three points at the end of the first quarter. The Panthers then slowly began building their advantage and got it to 34-20 by halftime.
Brainerd coach Levar Brown said once his team started improving on the boards, that’s when the lead started to grow.
“We have to do the job rebounding,” Brown said. “We told the kids earlier, ‘It’s something you’ve actually got to want to do. You’ve got to want to box out. You’ve got to want to rebound.’ We explained that to them at halftime and after the game.”