Ponies come from behind for 89-83 victory over Lee
Longview News Journal
Sunday, January 21, 2007
CARTHAGE — Panola College's men's basketball team has played three of the most athletic teams in Region XIV — Blinn, Tyler and Lee, the Ponies' opponent on Saturday afternoon at Arthur Johnson Gymnasium.
Apparently that athleticism is not quite the obstacle it would seem, because Panola stormed back from a 10-point second-half deficit to down Lee 89-83, improving the Ponies to 3-6 in conference play.
Panola has beaten Blinn and now Lee, and lost to Tyler by a point on Wednesday.
"I think we're fairly athletic, but I think what helps us is depth," said Panola coach Jacob Wonders. "That's what really helped us today. We've got Angelina next and then Navarro to finish out the (first round of) conference. Angelina's huge, and Navarro's very similar to us."
The game was tied 39-39 at halftime, but Lee built a 58-48 lead less than six minutes into the second half on a pair of free throws by Corey Jefferson. Panola scored a quick six, but the Rebels pushed their lead to 63-54 with 12:16 to go on a D'mond Grismore leaner off the glass.
Panola cut the lead to three, and Lee responded to take a 69-61 lead, but that was the final repulsion the Rebels could muster.
The Ponies staged a 15-2 run sparked by a Christopher Jones 3-pointer at the 8:16 mark. With 6:55 left. Jones found C.J. Clark for another 3-pointer, and Jones then scored twice in a 46-second span. David Burrell capped off the run with a floater in the lane, giving Panola a 76-71 lead with 4:35 remaining.
Lee cut Panola's lead to one twice within the next minute, but with 2:13 left Don Riley hit Jones for a fastbreak layup to put the Ponies up 82-77.
Taurance Townsel and Hollis Giles combined to hit three free throws for Lee and cut the Panola lead to two points with 1:17 to go, but with 47.1 seconds remaining, Riley found Dominique Whatley just left of the top of the key where he drilled a 3-pointer, which proved to be the game-winning basket.
Justin Dennis and Riley hit four free throws in the final 29.9 seconds to secure the Panola win.
Although he shot just 5-for-17 from the floor, Riley played a big part in the second half rally and finished with 13 points, 11 rebounds and four assists.
"I thought we started really, really slow in the first half. I wasn't really happy with our effort in the first half," Wonders said. "In the second half it was a little better.
"It was nice to have Don around for the last five minutes like I wish we would've for Tyler. That's what he does. People ask what he is, and he's just a glue, energy guy who's going to play hard and not make a lot of mistakes. The guys feed off the energy he brings."
Aamir McCleary led Panola with 17 points, 10 in the first half. Jones scored all 10 of his points in the final 8:16 of the game, and also had four rebounds and three assists. Whatley and Wandji Aboubakar had nine points apiece, while Justin Dennis had eight.
Dominique Keller led Lee with 18 points and 13 rebounds, while Grismore, who finished two lobs with vicious one-handed tomahawks, had 13 points and seven boards. Rashad Woods came off the bench for 12 points (10 in the first half), and Townsel (6-8, 270) was strong on both ends of the floor with 12 points and five blocked shots. Hollis Giles and Chris Patterson each scored 11.
Panola travels to Angelina on Wednesday.