March 4, 2016 - Lufkin, Texas – The Panola Men’s Basketball team defeated Jacksonville College in the quarterfinals of the Region XIV Conference Tournament here Thursday night, 82-70. The win propels the Ponies to the conference semifinals tomorrow against Lamar State Port-Author. Panola improves their overall record to 23-9. “We hit some adversity early in the game and finally started to hit on all cylinders in the middle half of the game.” Head Coach Grant McMillan stated. “Jacksonville made a heck of a run in the second half and our guys gutted out the win.” He added.
After trailing by nine points early in the first half, Panola ended the half on a 35-12 run to take a 46-29 lead at halftime. The Ponies continued their strong play to begin the second half where they extended their lead to 28 points, 69-41. Jacksonville eventually cut the deficit to six points before the Ponies prevailed with the 12 point victory.
Jonathan Wiley (Houston, Texas) came off the bench to lead the offensive charge with 24 points. Terry Holt (Nashville, Tennessee) netted 14 points, all in the first half. Charles Tucker (Lansing, Michigan) and Tyonte Robertson (Cincinnati, Ohio) chipped in with 13 and 10 points, respectively. As a team, Panola shot 52 percent from the field.
Panola will take on Lamar State Port-Author tomorrow at 8:00 PM in the conference semi-finals of the Region XIV Tournament. The tournament is held at Angelina College in Lufkin, Texas.
