Defense was the name of the game Thursday when Southside and Montevallo got together. The Panthers had plenty of it, but couldn’t jumpstart their offense in a 46-39 loss.

Panthers head coach Cedric Brown thought his team showed some grit, especially once it clawed back from a double-digit deficit in the third quarter, but he knows 39 points isn’t going to beat many elite teams.

“We kind of shot ourselves in the foot on offense,” Brown said. “Thirty-nine points is not a whole of points in a game, where I won’t say we dominated on defense, but we played really hard on defense. We only gave up 46 points, which is good, but we have to be more productive on the offensive end.”

At times, the game resembled one played on a football field instead of on a basketball court. Players dove to the floor and seemingly every basket was well-earned, which kept the scoring down.

“Our thing was to make sure our guys were taking care of the ball the whole time,” Montevallo coach Greg Dickinson said. “Slow it down, we aren’t in a rush and we are up the whole game. We did a good job of doing that. We kept the pace of the game the whole time.”

Dickinson said the Bulldogs preferred a slower pace, especially against a team as athletic as the Panthers (2-4).

This was the second battle between the two teams since Thanksgiving, as Southside defeated Montevallo in the Cornerstone Tournament in Birmingham.

The Bulldogs made sure it didn’t happen again.

Montevallo jumped out to a 39-30 lead with 4:28 remaining in the fourth quarter, only to watch Southside quickly close the gap.  Isaiah Coleman followed a Khamari Gibbs miss to make it a six point game and Ken’Tavius Page’s layup made it 39-35.

Moments later with the lead still at four with 21.9 seconds left, Southside had the ball but turned it over without getting a shot up.

“I’m not going to sugarcoat it just because most of them are first year players on varsity,” Brown said. “We need to grow up and get some grit about ourselves.”

Southside hit just one three-pointer, which ironically were the first points of the game by Jhlandius Sullivan.

Conversely, Montevallo hit five — four of them by Dashaunte Smith — to help open up the lead.

Page led Southside with 11 points in the game and Scott Cole scored nine. Smith led Montevallo with 14 points.

The Panthers will play Dallas County Friday at Concordia College Alabama.

 

Montevallo 50, Southside 13 (Girls)

The Southside Lady Panthers (1-4) couldn’t keep up with Montevallo Thursday in a 50-13 defeat that was never in doubt after the opening minutes.

The Bulldogs jumped out to a 10-4 lead in the first quarter, but really did their damage in the second quarter. Montevallo outscored the Panthers 17-5 in the second quarter on their way to a 27-9 lead at the break.Montevallo led 41-11 after the third quarter, and the final period featured a running clock.

“We just don’t show up for games and that is totally on me, and it is totally my fault,” Southside head coach Jason Bothwell said. “I don’t know if I’ve lost my gist for the game. I don’t know.” Yasmine Mixon led Southside with five points in the game.