Last Friday night, the Portal Panthers basketball teams visited Bryan County to tangle with the Redskins in a Region contest.
The Lady Panthers traveled home with a 43-28 road win against the winless Lady Skins while the undefeated Portal boys notched another win in their belt as their winning streak continued with a solid 68-34 victory over the also winless boys squad.
Despite a loss for the Lady Skins, improvement could be seen in the areas of play execution and defensive positioning on the court, but poor shooting from the perimeter and missed free throws continue to hinder them from gaining ground against opponents.
Coach Mario Mincey continues to lead his squad as they learn and try to execute his verbal directions from the bench throughout each contest and use these games as teaching his concepts for future success.
A tough Portal boys team confidently took the court as they sought their fifth straight win of the season, and they were not to be denied.
Redskin coach Keith Bazemore knew from the start the talent his squad would be facing on this night was "a good team that made it to the Elite Eight of the State playoffs last year and they have a solid basketball program."
A good crowd was on hand in Pembroke as the Redskin boys played one of their best first quarters thus far this season by hanging tough with Portal. They went in at halftime down by 13, but made Portal earn every point they scored. However, just like the girls’ squad, the boys are still missing too many open shots and struggling at the free throw line.
On this night, Justin Harrison led the Redskin shooters with 13 points as the hot hand of Winston Johnson, the leading scorer for Bryan County thus far this season, went cold.
The Portal team lived up to their notoriety as they simply wound up increasing the level of their play whenever needed and walked away with their fifth victory.
"We have to start making those easy baskets and free throws," Bazemore said. "That would maybe put us within 4-5 points to overcome instead of the 9-11 points that we are constantly battling."
BCHS played SEB at home last night, but results were not available as of press time. Next up is an away game Friday versus Jenkins County.