It was an up and down week for the Panthers of Jackson County as they dropped two region games, but snapped a losing streak with a decisive victory over Banks County.
Up next is a trip to Morgan County for more region play when they’ll face the Bulldogs in Madison.
Morgan County entered play on Tuesday with a 2-4 region record and 5-9 overall.
The Bulldogs came away from the most recent previous meeting of the two teams with a win back in December.
Tip-off is scheduled for 8:30 p.m.
The week started out with Hart County coming to the Pit to face the Panthers. The Bulldogs, who are third in the region, were looking to stop their own two-game skid and planned to use Jackson County to do so.
Hart County took control early, moving out to a 14-9 lead by the end of the first quarter. The Panthers worked to stay within striking distance, and trailed by only six, 24-17, going into the half.
But Hart County uncorked things in the third quarter, pulling out to a 56-30 lead, and cruised to a 75-45 victory.
Joseph Smith led the Panthers in scoring with 12 points, and also went 10-10 from the free throw line. Jonathan Holton, Juice Harrison and Will Wolter each scored six points.
Up next was a Friday night trip to Covington to face the Eastside Eagles, a team that had twice defeated Jackson County in their two previous meetings.
The Panthers got off to a good start, as they pulled out to a 16-11 lead at the end of the first quarter. But Eastside turned up the heat, adding 22 points to their score while holding Jackson County to six points to move out to a 33-22 lead at the half.
The Eagles continued to control the game in the third quarter, allowing the Panthers only three points while they ran the lead up to 57-25 by the end of the third. The situation got no better for Jackson County in the fourth quarter, as they were held to only two points, while Eastside moved out to a 67-27 victory.
“We came out strong and looked great in the first quarter with a five point lead,” said coach Britt Beaver. “Eastside went on a run, but we hung in there to be down 10 at the half, then dug a hole in the third and that was it.
“Again, we have to play more than a half. We aren’t deep, and we are banged up, but we have to get more out of our bench.”
But as rough as those two games were on the Panthers, things turned around for them on Saturday when they traveled to Banks County to face the Leopards.
Jackson County found themselves down early, as Banks County carried a 16-13 lead into the end of the first quarter. The Panthers began working to come back, holding the Leopards to eight points, while they took a one point lead to go into the half 25-24.
Jackson County continued to work to put some distance between themselves and the Leopards in the third quarter. The Panthers added 23 points to their score, led by Nick Oney, who hit five three-pointers, to increase their lead to 48-32 at the end of the third.
In the fourth, Banks mounted a charge, but could do nothing with the Panthers, as Jackson County went on to win 63-48.
Nick Oney scored a career high 22 points, going 7-9 from three-point range to lead the Panthers in scoring. Smith scored 12 points, had eight rebounds and four assists; Holton scored nine points and had five rebounds; Wolter scored seven points; Alex Crawford scored seven points and had five assists; and Jonathan Baxter had seven rebounds.
For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Jackson Herald or The Braselton News.
