The Portal boys’ basketball team continues to try and take steps in the right direction as head coach Jeff Brannen looks to find replacements for all five starters from last year’s 28-2 team. Tuesday night they took a step in the right direction as they hung on to beat Screven County 55-54 in Portal. The Panthers showed promise and inexperience Tuesday. They looked impressive when they went on an eight-point run in the fourth quarter to take a 48-39 lead. They then looked shaky as they allowed the Gamecocks climb all the way back and had to survive a missed layup at the buzzer to hold on for the victory.