Coach Brandon Hutchins wasn’t happy with his team’s 11-15 finish, even though it was an improvement over last year’s 7-17 record, and the Panthers won their first two games in the Region 4-AAAAA tournament.

Turnovers, too many contested shots and a lack of height on the boards plagued the Panthers for most of the season. However, the Panthers found momentum going into the region tournament. Terence Harper, the 6’7” senior center, led the way with 20 points in the Panthers’ 63-46 victory over Northgate. They won their second game, with four players scoring double-digit points in a nail-biter against Woodland 73-70. Any hopes of a region title came to a halt when Drew routed the Panthers 81-53.

“We knew we were a good team,” said senior forward Eric Sutliff, who was an All-Region honorable mention. “We wanted to prove something in the tournament and I believe we did that. Woodland was a good team that we lost to earlier in the season.”

The problem was the Panthers couldn’t find consistency during the season, unable to win more than two games in a row. Despite that, they were playing better near the end of the season, averaging more than 60 points per game. The team’s best game came against Forest Park at home in mid-January when they won by 18, 54-36.

“We really played well in that game,” Hutchins said. “Turnovers weren’t a problem and we scored really well. That was our most complete game this season.”

However, the Panthers didn’t always have those complete games, according to Hutchins. One of the bigger games of the year came in late-January, again at home when the Panthers faced off against the rival McIntosh Chiefs.

The game, known as “The Battle of the Bubble,” drew a standing-room-only crowd by the time the boys’ game began. The girls’ varsity, which played earlier in the evening, lost to the Lady Chiefs, 42-25. School resource officers and administrators had to turn away spectators because the gym was at capacity. Adding to the excitement of the night was Fox 5 Sports, who chose to broadcast it as its game-of-the-week.

The game was close in the first half with the Chiefs holding on to a 37-29 lead, but an 8-0 run by McIntosh in the third helped the Chiefs build a lead they never lost, and the Chiefs won 62-50. Turnovers, once again, plagued the Panthers.

“You always want to win that game,” Hutchins said. “But it never dictates who finishes the season better. We beat them last year and they finished better, and two years ago they beat us and we finished better.”

This was the team’s second meeting, with the Chiefs having won the first match 69-55. McIntosh junior guard Jordan Lyons had a season-high 32 points to go along with six rebounds and one assist.

The Chiefs were undefeated during the regular season, something the Panthers would have loved to spoil. One year ago, Lyons, then a sophomore, hit a three-pointer with seconds remaining to beat the Panthers, 54-53.

“We wanted to avenge last year’s loss,” Hutchins said. “We knew who we were playing and honestly, we played them better than any other team that’s played them.”

The team will lose six seniors, including All-Region honorable mention guard Zack Richards. Freshman guard Zach Pina was named Region 4-AAAAA Freshman Player of the Year.

“He did a great job this year,” Hutchins said. “He ran the most difficult position on the floor and did a pretty good job with it.”