The Lake City Panthers's 19-7 record from last season is now well into the rear view mirror after another tough outing. They were the victim of a tough 69-47 defeat at the hands of Wilson Hall on Wednesday. While losing is never fun, Lake City can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' South Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 208th, while Wilson Hall is ranked 36th).
When it comes to explaining why Lake City lost, one person who can't be blamed is Bryson Rose. Despite the final result, he dropped a double-double on 16 points and ten rebounds. Rose scored a full 34% of Lake City's points, the fourth time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Blayne Edwards, who scored 12 points along with six rebounds.
Lake City struggled to get the ball back on offense and finished the game with only four offensive rebounds. That's the fewest offensive rebounds they've managed all season.
It was another big night for Hugh Humphries, who dropped a double-double on 25 points and 16 rebounds for Wilson Hall. Those 25 points set a new season-high mark for him. Another player making a difference was Daniel Burton, who scored 14 points along with five rebounds and three blocks.
Lake City has not been sharp recently, as they've lost five of their last six contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 4-8 record this season. As for Wilson Hall, the win (which was their third in a row) raised their record to 10-2.
Lake City won't have much time to rest: their next matchup is against Scott's Branch at 3:00 p.m. on December 28th. Hopefully Scott's Branch focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up ten on Wednesday. Wilson Hall won't have much time to rest: their next game is against Hartsville at 1:30 p.m. on December 28th. Hartsville knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with flashy point totals in its past three contests -- so hopefully Wilson Hall likes a good challenge.
