The Southside Panthers survived a tremendous run by Ellwood Christian in the third quarter to defeat the Eagles 74-68 Tuesday night at Ellwood Christian Academy.

The Panthers trailed 57-52 late in the third quarter, only to outscore the Eagles 20-9 the rest of the way to escape with their first victory of the season.

“We kept the pressure on the entire game, even when we were down we kept that pressure on,” Southside head coach Cedric Brown said. “The guys really responded tonight with their backs against the wall. It is a hostile environment in here and the guys did a great job of coming out on top.”

For the Eagles, it was a night of missed opportunities. After rallying from a 40-30 deficit at halftime, Ellwood had chances down the stretch to take control of the game, but Southside’s pressure was too much.

“We dug ourselves a hole and it took us a minute to get back out but I am proud of my guys,” Ellwood Christian head coach Steven Hendrieth said. “We are still building and still progressing.”

Ellwood Christian took a 63-62 lead in the fourth quarter after Jalen Furlow made a layup, but Southside’s Jevon Hall made two free throws on the Panthers next possession and Willie Andrews made a layup seconds later to give Southside a 66-63 lead.

After a turnover-filled exchange of possessions, Southside added two more buckets on layups by Derrick Daniels and Hall to make the score 70-63 Panthers with 1:08 left to play. Hall added two more free throws with 30.5 seconds left to make the score 72-63 Panthers, completing an 11-0 run that completely swung the game in Southside’s favor.

“Ellwood came out and they threw a mean punch. We withstood that punch,” Brown said. “In the third quarter they threw another mean punch, but like I told the guys, you have to know how to counterpunch out of it.”

Hall led the Panthers with 27 points and Christopher Williams added 12 points. Jalen Furlow led the Eagles with 17 points and Rayford Mitchell added four three-pointers and 14 points overall.