Last year, the Portal Panthers missed the state playoffs and only won 12 total games. Wednesday night the Panthers defeated number one seed Mitchell County 68 to 62 in front of a sold-out crowd in Portal to advance to the Final Four for the first time since 2016.
“It was an up and down game and thankfully we were able to hold them off,” said coach Jeff Brannen. “We started off with a big lead and in the second quarter they sped us up to make it tight. In the third we made a run to start to pull away and then they started hitting three-pointers to get all the way back.”
After leading by as many as 18 points in the second half Mitchell County came all the way back to cut the lead to two with 38 seconds left sophomore CJ Harden was able to put the game away with a corner three pointer with 11 seconds left to give the Panthers a five-point lead and put them back into the state semifinals.
“That was a huge shot by C.J., “Brannen said. “They had the momentum and we needed something. The shot clock was winding down and he made a huge shot. We have faith in all our guys to step up when needed.”
The Panthers led by as many as 14 points in the fourth quarter before the Eagle defense started hurting Portal and they got hot from outside. Antwan Edwards hit three from behind the arc and a couple of big free throws with just over a minute to go to cut the Portal lead to 64-62.
“They got hot from outside,” Brannen said. “I take the blame on some of that for having a big man on their guard. We still have to do a better job mentally at the end of games and not turn the ball over.”
Mitchell County erased a 19-9 Portal first quarter lead and actually led briefly 28-27 before the Panthers went on an 8-2 run to end the first half keyed by five points from David Thomas who would lead the way with 24 points.
“David is our go-to guy and he came through again,” Brannen said. “We had a lot of guys step up tonight but we go as David goes usually.”
Edwards led the Eagles with 23 points. Harden had 15 points and Brian McQueen added 12 points for the Panthers.
The win propels the Panthers into the state semifinals where they will take on winner of Turner County and Washington Wilkes Friday at 7:00 at Ft. Valley St. University.
