ROBERSONVILLE — It was a dream start for Northside but it came with a nightmare finish.
After holding an 11-point first quarter lead, the Panthers struggled down the stretch against South Creek as the Cougars pulled out a thrilling 50-47 victory.
The Panthers took on South Creek in a battle for third place in the Four Rivers Conference standings on Friday and caught a big break early as Cougars star forward Laquan Boston drew three first-quarter fouls.
With Boston, a 27-point per game scorer, on the bench the Panthers went wild, outscoring South Creek 15-4 in the first quarter and appeared on their way to victory.
However, the Cougars eventually figured out how to play with Boston on the bench and caught fire in the second half as they outscored the Panthers 30-16 in the final two quarters.
“We just played a lot of team defense and team ball,” South Creek coach Darryl Pittman said. “We said at halftime we’re a team and if somebody can’t do it then we got his back. That’s what it’s all about.”
Picking up the slack for the bench-bound Boston was forward Jaquan Durham and talkative point-center Justin Williams.
Durham hit several key threes throughout the game and led all scorers with 18 points, while Williams backed up his talk with a 13-point effort and was key in getting Panthers star F/C Edrice Adebayo to foul out with 30 seconds left in the game.
Adebayo led Northside with 17 points, while Antonio Woods scored 11 for the Panthers.
The Cougars played catch up for a majority of the contest and did not take the lead until a Durham bucket made it 43-42 South Creek with less than three minutes to go in the game.
Northside would tie it up at 47 when Adebayo hit two clutch free throws, but the Cougars regained the lead when Durham took a Williams pass from the post and scored to pull ahead 49-47. It was a lead they would not let go of.
Northside coach Mike Procter said his team just could not take advantage of its opportunities.
“(South Creek) made their foul shots and we missed a lot of ours,” Procter said. “(South Creek) made some baskets at the end of the game and we tensed up a little bit. We didn’t move the ball very much, we had a lot of one-pass possessions and we just had too many turnovers.”
With 12 seconds left in the game, Williams went to the line and went 1-2 from the stripe to take a 50-47 lead and leave the Panthers with one last chance to force overtime.
As the clock ticked down Northside was able to get off a quality shot as guard Kentrell Washington fired off an open three-pointer but it did not fall through the nylon.

Northside    15    16    10    6    —    47
South Creek    4    16    16    14    —    50
Panthers (47)
Slade 6, Washington 2, Antonio Woods 11, Edrice Adebayo 17, Arthur 3, Jones 3.
Cougars (50)
Ampley 4, Farmer 7, Jaquan Durham 18, Justin Williams 13, Outlaw 2, Boston 6.