The Southside Panthers set the tone right from the start and controlled the pace of the game, as they cruised to a 66-48 victory at home over Bibb County in area play on Wednesday.

Cedric Brown, head coach of the Panthers (13-8, 4-1), said his team put up a great performance as it continues to prepare for the upcoming area tournament.

“We came out tonight and had a great start,” Brown said. “Midway through the third quarter we played a little shaky, but we’re trying to play some guys and trying to see what we have going into the area tournament because that’s the time that counts. At halftime we talked about the game being 90 percent mental and the other 10 percent is physical. We must take care of those mental attributes of the game first in order to be successful.”

Southside jumped ahead early, starting the game on an 11-0 run that included a three from Jeffery Mack and a pair of baskets from Mario Oliver.

Bibb County closed the gap to 15-6 at the end of the first quarter, but Southside pushed the lead back to double digits early in the second as Sammarkus Jones nailed a 3-pointer to make the score 18-8 with 6:06 remaining in the first half.