LELAND- After a valiant surge to take the lead in a low scoring game, the Leland Cubs ran out of gas in the final quarter to fall 37-35 to the Coahoma County Panthers Tuesday night. Panthers senior guards Bentavious Galmore and Trumaine Jones led a fourth quarter charge where they out scored the Cubs 11-9. Jontarius Pratt scored a three-point basket with two seconds remaining in the game to pull the Cubs to within a basket at the end of regulation. Coahoma County successfully inbounded the ball avoiding a last ditch effort for a Leland steal and shot at the basket.
The Cubs started gaining an offensive rhythm in the third quarter by scoring 15 total points with four different players getting involved. Senior forward Davion Wilson led the charge scoring nine in the quarter to help his team take a 26-25 lead at the end of the third quarter.
“We wanted to force tempo after half time,” said Cubs head coach Adiaih Curry. “In the first half, we played to their tempo rather than to ours.”
Both teams had trouble finding the bottom of the basket in the first half. Leland tallied its first field goal of the game at the 3:11 mark of the first quarter when junior guard DeMarcus Green knocked down a three pointer from the left baseline to pull the Cubs to within a 6-3 deficit. Leland trailed 7-6 after one quarter.
Offensive output for both teams was just as sparse in the second quarter as both teams combined for 11 points. Leland took its first lead of the evening junior forward Tremon euro stepped through Coahoma’s defense for a beautiful reverse layup. The Cubs led at 8-7 early in the second quarter but trailed 14-11 at the half.
“I think it was a case of nerves and a little uneasiness,” Curry said. “We hadn’t played this team this year and we didn’t know what to expect but it was also frustrating that we missed so many easy shots.”
