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East Middle Boys’ Basketball team hosted the Harris Middle Eagles and won a barn burner, 46-45.

The Panthers started fast and jumped out to as big as a 13-point lead behind posts Colton Tinnon and Julius Jones. Tinnon led the team with 20 points, with nine in the first quarter.

East scored 16 points in the first quarter. Jaxsen Peppers drained a 3-pointer. Brody McShea and Jones both added a bucket. Tinnon made 3 free throws to go with the 3 shots he hit. Harris got 6 points from their leading sorcerer A. Edwards including a made 3. J. Johnson made a free throw and M. Crenshaw made a shot. The score after the first quarter was 16-9 with the Panthers leading.

The Panthers added to their lead scoring more than the Eagles in the second quarter. McShea added to his total hitting a shot from downtown. Landon Price made both of his shots from the foul line. Jones and Tinnon both hit a free throw. For Harris, C. Rucker made a shot, B. Johnson and M. Crenshaw both hit a free throw. East went into halftime up 23- 13.

The third quarter was fast paced and saw 29 total points scored. The Panthers accounted for 14 of those, six from Tinnon. Peppers made another shot from beyond the arc. Chris Taylor and Price both made a shot. Jones went 1 for 2 from the foul line. A. Edwards had a big quarter for the Eagles making two 3-pointers and adding another bucket. B. Johnson scored a basket. J. Johnson hit a shot and both free throws. M. Crenshaw went 1 for 2 from the stripe. The Panthers still held a 37-28 lead after three quarters.

Harris went on a run and outscored East 17-9 in the quarter to make it a close game. Price made both of his free throw attempts with less than a minute left. McShea also made a free throw in the fourth. Taylor scored a layup. Tinnon scored a close shot and went 2 for 4 from the line. For Harris, A. Edwards had another big quarter scoring 6 points, 3 from the foul line and another made 3. C. Rucker added 4 points, including 2 made free throws. J. Hernandez scored a couple of baskets. B. Harris made a shot and a free throw. Harris hit a layup with around 3 seconds left, so East was able to run the clock out without having to inbound the ball.

“In the second half we got a little complacent and lost our lead,” said Coach Terry Johnson. “It was a tight game in the fourth. With less than 30 seconds left Landon Price sank 2 free throws to put us up by 3. Harris made a 2 point shot and we ran the clock out to get a much needed win.”

Prior to the boys’ game the Lady Panther fell to the Lady Eagles 36-22. Gena Hickerson led East in scoring with 16 points, including six made free throws. Diamond Blair scored 2 points and Eliana Martinez scored 4 points.

Both East Middle Basketball teams fell to the Coffee County Red Raiders on Monday, but the full results were unavailable at the time of print. They will travel to North Middle on Thursday before coming back home on Dec. 4 to host South Middle.