The Portal Panthers earned a split Friday night against the visiting Bryan County Redskins as the girls lost the early game 61-19, but the boys were able to improve to 2-0 on the season with a 46-25 victory.
Losing seven seniors off of last year’s team Portal head coach Jeff Brannen felt like it would take some time for the Panthers to gell, Friday it looked like Portal may be a little ahead of his time frame as they jumped out to an early lead, and were able to maintain it throughout the game.
“We still have a lot of things to clean up on the offensive end of the floor,” Brannen said. “Our shot selection was bad early in the game. I did like the way we hustled out there, and our defensive effort.”
A pair of three pointers, followed by a steal by Garrett Fogle, who made a good pass ahead to Brian Ware for a layup, gave Portal an 11-5 lead. Bryan County was able to trim the lead to 11-9 at the end of the first but the Panthers extended the lead in the second. 6-6 center Fred Spells was a force inside, as he blocked four shots in the second quarter, and the offense worked the ball around nicely to build a 22-11 halftime lead.
The Panthers continued to struggle from the field in the second half, but were able to maintain their lead thanks to solid defense. Spells had five more blocked shots in the third quarter, and finished the game with 13 blocks.
“He can really be a force inside,” Brannen said. “We have to get him more active on the offensive side of the floor. We have to find ways of getting him the ball around the basket.”
The Panthers scored only three points through the first four minutes of the third quarter, but picked things up the final four minutes. The Panthers attacked the rim and scored 14 points, primarily on layups and free thrown as they extended their lead to 39-17.
In the fourth quarter Portal continued to play solid defense, and were able to score in transition. Bryan County went over five minutes without a basket, but a hit a couple shots late in the game to make things a little more respectable, but still ended up losing by 21 points.
“We are going to have to continue to improve,” Brannen said. “If we are going to get where I want this team to be we are going to have to play a little smarter, particularly on offense.”
Ware led the Panthers with 15 points, while Chandler Sheffied added 10 points. Bryan County was led by Jamon Flonnel with seven points.
In the girls game the Lady Panthers dug themselves an early hole, and were never able to get close, as the Bryan County Redskins jumped out to a 22-5 first quarter lead, and went on to cruise to the 61-19 victory.
Bryan County bounced back nicely from a 55-38 loss they had Wednesday at Statesboro High. The Redskins pressure gave the Panthers fits throughout the game, and they were red hot from behind the three point line.
“Our girls were a little timid from the start, because they knew what kind of team Bryan County had,” said Portal coach Huey Williams. “They do a lot of things well, and tonight they hit from outside, and really hurt us with their defensive pressure. The better team won tonight.”
Bryan County hit 10 three pointers in the first half, including a stretch in the second quarter when they hit four in a row to extend their lead to 36 to 9. Fittingly the Redskins got a three pointer at the halftime buzzer by Alation Eason to extend their lead to 41-11 at the half.
The second half was more of the same, as the Redskins outscored the Panthers 12-2 in the third quarter, and then went on for the 42 point victory.
“We’ve got to do a little better job of doing the little things that we can control,” Williams said. “Toward the end of the game we did a few things that give me some hope.”
Keely Thomas led the Panthers with eight points, while Bryan County was led by Olonna Rawls with a game high 15 points. Up next the Panthers travel to Screven County, with the girls getting things underway at 6:00.
