Jr. Panthers rout Jr. Red Devils

MOUNTAIN PINE — Mountain Pine’s junior boys had a rough night against Magnet Cove at home Friday night, falling

40-12.

The junior Panthers (11-1) came out on fire to put up 25 first-quarter points while shutting out the junior Red Devils

(2-2).

“They were huge,” said junior Red Devils head coach LaMont Page. “They were huge and, you know, we’re young; I play a lot of seventh and eighth-graders, and it’s tough when you play against ninth-graders, and the last group I had in there were all seventh-graders. So we’re trying to prepare for the future. We’re trying to play with what we got right now, but I just feel like — I mean, they’re a good team.

“I don’t want to take nothing away from them. They played great. And they’re big. Their size and their length is what challenged us tonight. We just couldn’t get around them. You know, we’re small and they were longer than we were, but they’re a good team, and especially for a junior high team, they’re a pretty nice size.”

Luke Harper began the second frame as well, with a block and rebound before Hayden Browning found Bo Batchelor for the score. In the final seconds of the half, Hatley banked a shot in off the drive to set the first-half score at 35-3.

Going up 35-3 by the end of the first half, Hayden Browning hit a free throw for the junior Panthers to get on the board first in the second half. Zion Wyatt found Adonis Delaxy for inside layup in transition, but Dylan Franklin answered for Mountain Pine with a steal and coast-to-coast layup 38-5 to cap the third frame.

In the fourth, Malachi Petty started off with a block and then Tyree Hatley hit Justin Ingolia for the foul and bucket to give the junior Red Devils 8 points.

Caden Green answered for Magnet Cove with the steal to go go all way for layup and foul. Hatley hit a shot in the paint off an offensive rebound around the one minute mark of the game, and Jacob Walpole grabbed a rebound and took it coast-to-coast to end the scoring.

Junior Panthers head coach Matt Williamson said that he was most proud of his team’s ball movement.

“We’ve got a really good eighth- grade kid, Bo Batchelor, and he’s a floor general and just a really special player,” he said. “And he’s got a lot of players around him that know how to score. So I thought our ball movement and getting it up in transition was really, really good. And it’s just a fun group. That’s a good group, and we’ve only lost one game to Nashville, which is a 4A school. So we were in that game. So it’s a really hard-working group and just fun to watch and fun to coach.”

The junior Red Devils play at Fountain Lake at 1 p. m. and will resume play following the Christmas break. Magnet Cove plays next after the break.