PORTAL – The Portal Panthers began Friday night’s contest against Savannah Christian by honoring Corey Reese, who had reach 1,000 career points earlier in the week.
    By the end of the night, the Panthers had another 1,000 point scorer and a 55-48 win.
    Stacy Morgan scored 16 points on the night and a layup early in the third quarter put him in Reese’s company.
    Just a few minutes later, Morgan connected on another jumper that put Portal ahead for good as some suffocating defense kept the Raiders quiet down the stretch.
    “Every one of these games are big,” said Portal coach Jeff Brannen. “That’s what we talked about in the locker room. You can’t afford to drop too many games in the sub-region. Savannah Christian is a very good team, so we’re happy to get out of here win a win.”
    The Panthers (10-3, 2-1 Region 3-A) needed the sub-region victory badly after a hiccup earlier in the week at Jenkins County.
    Savannah Christian gave Portal fits throughout the night – especially on the boards – but some key offensive rebounds allowed Portal to extend their fourth quarter possessions and solid free throw shooting from Morgan and Treston White (14 points) gave Portal the decisive edge.
    “We weren’t hitting a lot of our free throws early on,” said Brannen. “But we got the ones that we needed most. And the defense also stepped up. The offense isn’t always going to be there, but we were able to win it with defense tonight.”
    The Raiders held a slim lead through the closing minutes of the first quarter, but Morgan drained a deep 3 at the buzzer to tie the game at 12-12.
    The teams continued their seesaw battle in the second period, but Portal managed to take a slim lead on free throws from Reese, White and Lee.
    Ben Smith (10 points) erased the advantage with a 3 for Savannah Christian, but Morgan beat the clock once more to put Portal up 28-26 at the break.
    The Panther crowd greeted Morgan with a standing ovation after his first bucket of the second half put him at an even 1,000 points for his career.
    “I’ve been coaching for 21 years and I’ve never had a team with two 1,000 point scorers,” said Brannen. “It’s pretty special to have a pair of guys like Stacy and Corey that you can count on every night.”
    A pair of buckets by White gave Portal some breathing room and Lee took his turn in beating the buzzer with a jumper at the end of the third quarter to make it 42-38 Panthers.
    Portal was finally able to maintain its lead as the Panthers locked down on defense and bled the clock with each possession in the final period.
    Four more points from Morgan – on a layup and two free throws – and a free throw from White finally stretched the lead to double-digits as the Raiders gave in over the final two minutes.

Lady Panthers come up short
    An 18-3 run in the third quarter nearly dug the Portal girls out of a big hole, but the Lady Panthers couldn’t complete the comeback as they fell to Savannah Christian by a count of 58-44 in Friday’s first game.
    Maiya Cooper and Chandler Ewaldson paced Savannah Christian with 19 and 18 points, respectively.
    Chandelier Morgan was the only Panther in double-digits as the freshman turned in a career high 21.
    Playing without star forward Shiann Hagins – who was out of town due to a family emergency – Portal (6-6, 0-2 Region 3-A) was out of sorts early on as the Lady Raiders rolled to a 34-18 halftime advantage.
    The Panthers came out of the locker room with an aggressive defensive plan that nearly got them back to even.
    After trading baskets with Savannah Christian on the first two possessions, the Portal press began to force turnovers, which led to a few easy buckets at the other end for Morgan.
    An inside jumper by Mary Lane (8 points) got the Panthers within 41-36 late in the third quarter, but Cooper caught fire over the final 10 minutes to rebuild the Raider lead as the shots stopped dropping for Portal.
    Both Portal squads are back in action tonight as they host Emanuel County Institute beginning at 6 p.m.

    Mike Anthony may be reached at (912) 489-9404.