Loyd Cook Photo Ryan Owens, right, goes up in the lane during the Brownsboro Bears’56-28 win over the Palestine Wildcats in the District 20-3A district opener in Brownsboro Friday. It was a district-opening win for the Brownsboro Bears Friday night at home, as they easily defeated the Palestine Wildcats.

Brownsboro (14-6, 1-0) used a strong first half as a springboard to victory over Palestine (5-12, 0-1).

In the beginning, it didn’t look that favorable for the Bears.

The Wildcats opened strong, running of to a 9-0 lead before Bears head coach Jeff Hutchins called a timeout to stop the run and set up the Brownsboro offense with a good play.

The Bears got off the mark as point guard Ryan Smith hit post Nick Jones down low for Brownsboro’s first points of the game.

And the Bears run begin.

In answer to that opening 9-0 run by Palestine, Brownsboro’s response eventually stretched into the second quarter and a 20-point answer, and a 20-9 lead, before the Wildcats were able to score again.

During Brownsboro’s 20-point run, Smith and Jacob McCarthy each hit five points on a three-pointer and two free throws each. Jones added an old-fashioned three-point play (a basket and a free throw) to his first basket for five points of the Bears’ run.

After Palestine broke the Bears run with a basket early in the second quarter, Brownsboro went on another, smaller run -- scoring eight unanswered points.

In all, Brownsboro outscored the Wildcats, 19-6, in that pivotal second quarter.

After posting a 32-15 halftime lead, the Bears continued to outplay the Wildcats in the second half, oustcoring them by a 24-13 count.

Smith led all Bears scorers with 16 points while McCarthy added 12 and Jones had seven points.

Ryan Owens and Tyler Rogres had four points each, Kyle Yarbrough hit a late three-point shot that brought the house down, and Keuntis Thompson, Zack Bailey and BRet Ralson each had two points in the game.

The Bears hit an astounding 17-of-17 free throws in the game.

JV 33, Palestine 29

The junior varsity Bears blew an 11-point halftime lead with an ice-cold third quarter from the floor, but rallied to win a close, fourth quarter and take home a victory to open district play Friday.

Up 23-12 after two periods of play, the Bears were able to score only a single point in the third quarter as the Wildcats put 12 on the board to tie the game at 24 at the end of the third quarter.

A late steal by Corben Duke, and his pass to Brett Conner, resulted in two Conner free throws with 11 seconds to go to seal the win.

Chris Stringer and Scott Spearman combined to score seven of the nine points the Bears had in the quarter, as the team posted a 33-29 win in District 20-AAA.

Spearman had eight points, Conner had seven, and Stringer six points as the trio led the Bears. Duke had four points, Kris Bryant had three points and Cody Strickland added a basket.