WASHINGTON — The atmosphere in Dave Smith Gym at Washington High School was electric Wednesday night as the Pam Pack hosted cross-county rival Northside in a nearly packed gym full of fans of both teams.

While the two groups of fans “battled” by seeing who could cheer louder for their team, the two squads on the court engaged in a game that was frenetically paced at times, but ultimately slowed down by an abundance of fouls. When the dust finally settled, it was Washington who emerged victorious, 82-70, doubling its win total from last year and handing the Panthers their first loss of the season.

“It was a great win for us,” Washington head coach Lane Raper said. “We definitely needed it after two straight losses over in Pitt County (to Farmville Central and D.H. Conley). It’s a great confidence booster. The Pitt County games, we were lackadaisical. We weren’t lazy, but we were just getting outplayed, outhustled. And tonight, we really showed that we were here and you know it was the energy from the crowd, but our guys really stepped it up tonight.”

With the rocking crowd, the game began with a fast pace and both teams looking to get up and down the court. This played to how Northside (2-1 1A Coastal Plains Conference) prefers to play and the Panthers built a 10-5 lead halfway through the opening quarter scoring mainly off of fast breaks.

Washington (2-2, 2A Eastern Carolina Conference) has gotten off to slow starts in all of its games so far this season and Raper said the atmosphere in the gym played a part in his team’s sluggish start against Northside.

“I think the nerves of us walking out and seeing this place packed for the first time in a few years was really important to them, and I think it got to their heads a little bit,” Raper said.

The tide turned when Raper made substitutions, putting in a taller group, including Uriah Lawrence. The 6-foot-1 senior proved to be the game changer, as his combination of strength, athleticism and aggression allowed him to continually get to the basket to score or earn free throws. Lawrence, who finished with a team-high 26 points, helped bring Washington back into the game, as he hit a layup and the ensuing free throw at the end of the first quarter. That and-one play gave the Pam Pack an 18-16 lead, a lead it wouldn’t surrender for the rest of the game.

“I wanted to start off small, I wanted to see how he (Northside head coach Jared Adams) was going to approach the game. And then I went to that tall set, and Uriah just absolutely took over,” Raper said. “His athleticism and his determination and his aggressiveness, getting them in foul trouble, which they already were before he got in the game. That was huge.”

It was a tightly refereed game with fouls called on the slightest of contact. There were 58 total fouls called, with three players from each team fouling out. The second quarter saw Washington take control of the game, scoring 28 points, with 10 of them coming from the line. While the Pam Pack took 16 free throws in the second quarter, the Panthers were awarded only eight.

That disparity didn’t sit well with Northside head coach Jared Adams, who said he felt the teams weren’t given equal treatment by the refs at times and the constant blowing of the whistle for fouls kept his team from getting into a rhythm offensively.

“You’re not able to get momentum, you’re not able to get into rhythm, you can’t get into the swing of things, you get frustrated because then you know you’re in foul trouble,” Adams said. “So then you have to soften up your defense, and that takes you out of the style of basketball you’re trying to play.”

Northside’s Rashod Smith was finally able to find his groove in the third quarter, helping cut Washington’s lead to seven by the end of the third. Smith scythed through the Pam Pack defense for four layups in the quarter, while also dishing out a couple of assists, to finish with a game-high 38 points.

It was Northside’s turn to keep going to the line in the final quarter, as Smith shot 16 free throws in the fourth period. Unfortunately for the Panthers, Smith missed nine of them, including his last five. On the other end, Washington’s Jeremee Bryant hit five free throws down the stretch on the way to scoring 12 points. His twin, Jamauri Bryant, finished with 13 points, and helped dominate the offensive boards, along with Jeremee and Lawrence.

While Smith nearly reached 40 points, he didn’t receive much help on the offensive end. Zach Green scored 10 points, while Johnathan Clark chipped in with nine. Clark ended up exiting the game early in the fourth quarter, with what Adams said was a combination of a cramp and possibly a pulled muscle.

Washington will next travel to North Pitt tonight to take on the Panthers at 7:30 p.m. Northside plays Ocracoke tomorrow at First Flight High School, with tipoff scheduled for 11 a.m.