November 5, 2015 Weatherford, TX - The Panola College men's basketball team defeated Weatherford College here Wednesday night by a score of 81-78. With the win, the Ponies improve their record to 3-1 on the year. "We played in an extremely hostile environment." explained Head Coach Grant McMillan. "Going on the road in Region V is never easy. Our guys competed at a high level and executed the game plan." He added.
After a seesaw first half, Panola took a 4 point lead into the locker rooms, 46-42. A flurry of buckets to start the second half gave Panola their biggest lead, 53-44 with 17:55 remaining in the game. Weatherford crawled their way back to tie the game at 68-68 with 8:32 left. A Terry Holt (Nashville, Tennessee) layup sparked a quick 8-2 run where the Ponies never surrendered the lead. Weatherford did close the gap within 2 points, 77-75 with 38 seconds remaining but Charles Tucker (Lansing, Michigan) sank two free throws to ice the game.
Leading Panola in scoring for the second straight game was Jonathan Wiley (Houston, Texas) with 19 points. Also scoring in double figures was Holt with 17, Tucker with 15, and Chan Williams-Bey (Hartford, Connecticut) with 12. Tope Arikawe (Nigeria) led the Ponies in rebounds chasing down eight, while Tucker also led the team in assists with seven. As a team, Panola knocked down 27 of 35 free throws and shot 46 percent from the field.
Panola will be back in action this upcoming Friday as they head to Athens, Texas to play in the Trinity Valley Community College Classic. The Ponies take on Southwest Christian Community College at 5:30 PM on the campus of Trinity valley.
