March 7, 2018 Jacksonville, TX - The Panola College men’s basketball team defeated Coastal Bend College here Tuesday night, 95-83. The victory improves Panola’s overall record to 20-11 and puts them in the quarterfinals in the Region 14 conference tournament. The 20th win marks the third straight season with 20 or more wins in each of Head Coach Grant McMillan’s tenure, first time in school history. “We handle their punches and got in a good flow. It took us a while to close the game but we took care of business.” McMillan stated.
Both teams came out on fire scoring a combined 48 points in the first 9:00 minutes of the game. In that stretch, there were eight lead changes and three ties. Panola began to pull away taking a 50-40 halftime lead. The ponies never kept their foot off the glass as they extended their lead to 72-47 midway through the second half. Coastal Bend made a run but never got any closer that nine points. Panola won 95-83.
Four players scored in double figures and were led by Marlon Taylor’s 32 points. Jeremy Roscoe recorded a double-double netting 11 points and dishing out 12 assists. Juwan Williams scored 14 while Alex Holcombe added 10. As a team, the Ponies shot 58 percent from the field.
Panola advances to the quarterfinals of the regional tournament. They take on San Jacinto at 8:00 PM on Thursday. The game will be played at Jacksonville, Texas ISD gymnasium.
Submitted by Adam Blaylock
