Area high school basketball teams are starting to wrap up region play as they jockey for region standings with playoffs just around the corner.
The Portal Panthers had a showdown against Jenkins County Friday in Millen in a battle of two of the top-10 ranked teams in the state. Portal is ranked No. 2 while Jenkins Co. was No. 7 and Friday the Panthers were able to hold on to the top spot in the region with a 59-56 victory.
The Panthers trailed 14-2 to start the game, but then went on a 19-2 run to grab a 21-16 lead. Portal led by as many as 12 points in the second half, but the War Eagles stormed back to make it a two-point lead before the Panthers were able to ice the game with free throws down the stretch.
“Any time we play those guys it seems like it is a tight game,” said Portal coach Jeff Brannen. ‘They tend to want to play rough and our kids have to understand when that is happening. We were getting contact early on and let that bother us when things weren’t called. We have to do a better job of understanding how things are going and adjusting to that. I think we did a better job after their run of playing our style of basketball.”
Portal was led by Elijah Coleman with 17 points. Joseph Thomas had 15 while brother David Thomas pitched in with 10 points. ZZ Wilson led Jenkins County with 20 points including five 3-pointers.
Portal went on to knock off Screven County 84-31 on Saturday. On Tuesday Portal beat Montgomery County 75-40 to improve to 18-1 and 5-0 in region play. Up next for Portal is a short trip over the county line to take on longtime rival ECI Friday.
The Portal Lady Panthers held a 10-point lead with three minutes to go Friday at Jenkins County. The warriors then outscored Portal 12-0 the rest of the game and won 34-32.
Turnovers and missed layups and free throws proved costly for the Lady Panthers. Head coach Nicole Newton was frustrated with the way the team played down the stretch and took much of the blame.
“This one is on me,” Newton said. “We have to do a better job of understanding when we have a lead like that, we don’t have to rush a shot. We must do a better job of communicating this in practice and find a way to take more time off the clock and not get flustered and tune the ball over. We lost Glen Lowe to fouls and she is our primary ball handler but we have to have others who can bring the ball up if she goes out.”
Portal lost to Screven Friday 59-35 and lost 60-46 to Montgomery County Tuesday as they drop to 6-13 overall and 1-3 in region play. Portal is at ECI for a 6:00 start Friday.
The Southeast Bulloch Yellow Jackets split with Wayne County Friday in Brooklet and then lost a pair of games Tuesday at New Hampstead. The boys knocked off Wayne County 77-46 Friday behind a game-high 30 points from Zach Wells who sat out the fourth quarter.
The Jackets missed 10 free throws Tuesday at No. 6 ranked New Hampstead and were led by Wells with 19 points and Trey Jones with 10 points. Southeast Bulloch is now 10-8 and 2-3 in region play while the girls remain winless on the season. Up next Southeast Bulloch hosts Islands Friday at 6:00.
The Bulloch Academy Lady Gators have now won eight straight games with victories over Frederica, Westminster and Pinewood. The Gators beat Frederica 46-40 behind 14 points each from Emme Powell and Ashantay Noble. Noble had 28 in Monday’s 54-49 victory over Westminster and Noble had 21 and Kaley Cardell added 15 as the Gators beat Pinewood 51-25 Tuesday. They are now 15-5 and 4-0 in region play as they host St. Andrews Friday at 6:00.
The Gator boys are 10-10 and 2-2 in region play as they lost to Frederica 59-42 and then beat Westminster 70-64 and beat Pinewood 68-63. Jackson Sheppard had 19 points in the win over Pinewood while Keonte Mayner and Shamar Jenkins each had 13 points.