PORTAL — The Portal Panthers remained white-hot to start the season as they ran through cross-region rival Montgomery County en route to a 70-52 victory Tuesday night.
The Eagles (2-2) notched the first five points of the contest, but Portal (3-0) couldn’t be stopped once it hit its stride.
Stacy Morgan led the way with 33 points for Portal while Robert Lee pitched in 10.
Jordan White (16 points) and Jared Quarterman (10) each reached double-digit scoring for Montgomery County.
“Any time that you can beat a team that is in your region, it’s great,” said Portal coach Jeff Brannen. “Up until this season, Montgomery had been a sub-region team along with us. We’re real familiar with each other, so it was good to see our guys execute against a team that knew what we have and what we want to do.”
The Panthers bounced back from their early struggles to trail by just 16-15 after the first quarter and then dominated the next two quarters of play.
Lee gave Portal its first lead of the game early in the second quarter with a layup before Morgan hit a floater and connected on a free throw after being fouled to make it 20-16.
The Eagles closed within 22-20, but Morgan connected on another short jumper, then drilled a 3 with 2:46 to go in the half. Taking the Panthers on his shoulders, Morgan added another layup as Portal went into the locker room with a 31-26 advantage.
“We were able to ride Stacy for a good part of the game,” said Brannen. “He has the ability to do that, but he’ll also hit you if you’re open. Every time (Montgomery) tried to get to him, he found another guy who got a shot to go down.”
As much as Morgan had helped out to end the first half, he absolutely took over to begin the second half.
Morgan scored 13 of the Panthers’ first 18 points in the third quarter, including three 3-pointers in less than a two minute span as Portal raced out to a 49-36 lead.
Despite the Eagles’ size advantage, a big part of Portal taking control in the game was its ability to rebound and defend well in the paint.
“If we win this season, we’re going to win with defense,” said Brannen. “We create our offense off of our defense. We had some lapses early on, but some good defense also allowed us to get going in the middle part of the game.”
Treston White stretched the lead to 54-40 with a long 3 as the buzzer for the third quarter sounded and the Panthers were able to slow things down and play keep away for much of the final quarter.
Cory Reese — who had been held to a single point in the first three quarters — added six more as he controlled the inside and Morgan bumped the lead as high as 65-45 with another jumper with just under three minutes to play.
Portal girls win another one
Portal’s girls are over the .500 mark for the first time in over a decade as the Lady Panthers (2-1) defeated Montgomery County (0-3) by a score of 45-32 in Tuesday’s first game.
Shianne Hagins led all scorers with 22 while senior guard Mary Lane added 14 more.
Tuesday’s win, combined with the Panthers’ victory over Bryan County Saturday night, marks the first back-to-back wins for Portal in two years.
“This was a big one for us,” said Portal coach Cliff Hubbard. “We’re not used to getting a lot of wins consistently, so to come out early in the year and win a few games is huge.”
The Panthers took a 20-10 lead into halftime and weathered a sloppy third quarter while keeping the Lady Eagles at an arm’s length on the scoreboard. Over the final eight minutes, the Panthers battled their way to the line and connected on free throw after free throw to seal the victory.
Montgomery County closed within 29-24 just over a minute into the fouth quarter when Ebony Garees hit a putback jumper and made a free throw after being fouled, but Portal wouldn’t be denied.
Lane notched an offensive rebound and putback of her own and later took a defensive rebound the length of the court for a 36-38 lead.
The Panthers connected on five of their final six free throws to close out the win.
Portal’s boys and girls return to action Saturday as they travel to Bryan County.
Mike Anthony may be reached at (912) 489-9404.
Panthers cruise
Portal sweeps Montgomery County