The South Panola Tigers's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Tuesday after their 12th straight loss. They fell just short of Grenada by a score of 68-66. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game last Saturday (61), South Panola still had to take the loss.
Lamorris Walls and Demartric Houston certainly did their best on Tuesday to avoid the loss. Walls scored 21 points along with two steals, while Houston dropped a double-double on 14 points and 11 rebounds. It was the first time this season that Walls scored 15 or more points. Lj Pope was another key contributor, scoring nine points along with five rebounds.
Even though they lost, South Panola smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with ten offensive rebounds. This was only their 13th loss (out of 15 games) when they hit their own glass that hard.
Grenada's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Caleb Howard, who dropped a double-double on 24 points and 17 rebounds. Howard continues to roll, besting his previous point total in each of the last three games he's played. Another player making a difference was Jarques Perry, who dropped a double-double on 16 points and 18 rebounds.
South Panola's loss was their tenth straight at home, which dropped their record down to 2-17. As for Grenada, the win was the fifth in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 11-11.
South Panola will look to defend their home court on Thursday against the Mustangs at 7:30 p.m. Center Hill presents a significant challenge as they come into the match much higher ranked than the Tigers in Mississippi (the Mustangs are ranked 76th, while the Tigers are ranked 237th). As for Grenada, they and the Conquistadors will face off at 6:30 p.m. on February 1st without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. Olive Branch has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 593 points over their last eight contests.
