The Perry Panthers experienced some big momentum swings that went in & against their favor tonight in tonight’s Playoff opener against the Shaw Raiders that resulted in a Panther victory 61-54. Shaw opened the game on an 8-3 run before Perry answered the door & got on a 7-0 run to lead 10-8 down the stretch in the first quarter. The Panthers made a 3-pt field goal in the last second of the first to lead 13-10.
Perry ultimately went on a 16-0 run that started in the first quarter & carried into the second to lead 26-10 before the Raiders made their first basket of the quarter. The Panthers eventually pushed their lead to just over 20 late in the first half & Perry took a 37-18 advantage into the locker room.
Shaw came out of the halftime break & flipped the script in their favor by shredding the Panthers 23-7 in the third quarter to trail 44-41 heading into the final frame. Perry was able to push the lead back to 10 before Shaw cut the gap back down to three again late in the game but that would be the closest the Raiders would get as Antonio Lawson made a critical block in the waning seconds that would ultimately seal the victory for Perry.
The Panthers made some late FTs & won 61-54 to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. Jaylon Edwards led Perry in scoring with 18 pts followed by Junior Gordon with 12 pts (all 3 pt field goals). Shaw was led in scoring by Artavious Ellison with 15 pts followed by Tre Adkins & Jesiah Williams with 10 pts each.
The Panthers improved to 17-12 overall & will travel to Savannah to face Benedictine Saturday Night at 7:00pm while the Raiders ended their season at 11-17 overall.
Elsewhere; Veterans hosted the Panthers of Lakeside (Evans) in the First Round which went in the favor of the visitors 63-59 to improve to 19-10 overall while the Warhawks ended their season at 17-11 overall. HoCo traveled to play at Grovetown & got overran 75-47 by the Warriors to finish at .500 on the season at 14-14 overall while Grovetown improved to 19-8 overall.
Lakeside will travel to take on St. Pius X either Friday or Saturday while Grovetown will host Marist on either of the same days.
