January 28, 2016 - Carthage, Texas – The Panola College men’s basketball team defeated Tyler Junior College here Wednesday night, 74-63. With the win, the Ponies elevate their record to 17-5 and 8-3 in Region 14 play. “Again, our guys gave tremendous effort the second half of the ball game.” Head Coach Grant McMillan said. “Tyler was unbelievably long and our guys had to make some adjustments on the offensive end.” He stated.
Trading baskets early in the ball game, Tyler eventually took a nine point lead late in the first half. Panola closed the gap to six points, trailing 34-28 at intermission. Again, both teams traded baskets the first six minutes of the second half before the Ponies tied the ball game at 51 with 9:08 remaining in the second half. A steady offensive attack found Panola gain a 14 point lead before winning by the final tally.
Leading the way offensively for Panola was Charles Tucker (Lansing, Michigan) with 19 points, 10 of those coming from the free throw line. He also dished out 10 assists. Chan Williams-Bey (Hartford, Connecticut) scored in double figures adding 14 points. Also scoring in double figures was Tyonte Robertson (Cincinnati, Ohio) with 10. Tope Arikawe (Nigeria) swatted a season-high six blocks and Devyn Wilson (Brooklyn, New York) forced three steals in the victory. As a team, Panola held Tyler to 29 second half points and shot 80 percent from the free throw line.
Panola will next be in action this upcoming Saturday, January 30th when they hit the road to take on Navarro College. Tip-off is set for 4:00 PM in Corsicana, Texas.
