Lewis County Herald - Serving Hohenwald, Lewis County Tennessee Since 1898

By Jason Fite/Sports writer

The Lewis County Middle School Panthers traveled to Columbia and E.A. Cox Middle School for the TMSAA 2A Area 9 Tournament Championship Game against the E.O. Coffman Panthers on Tuesday, January 24th.

Lewis County started the game hot, scoring the first eight points of the game before Coffman was able to find a point. Coffman did counter in the first, going on a six-point run to cut the Panther lead to two. But the Panthers would get back-to-back three’s from Phenix McDonald and Bo Banks to grab a 14-6 lead at the end of the first quarter. The pace slowed in the second quarter as both defenses limited opportunities for each offense and the teams played to a 6-6 tie in the period and the Panthers held on to an eight-point lead at halftime 20-12. Lewis County went on a big run out of the break, a 15-0 start to the second half that opened up a 23-point lead before Coffman scored their first basket of the half as Maddox Tanner scored 12 points in the third. Coffman scored the final seven points of the third quarter to cut into the big Panther lead an Lewis County was up 38-19 as play moved on to the fourth quarter. Coffman would use a 13-point run to start the fourth to pull to within seven points, but late baskets from Tanner and McDonald would give the Panthers the cushion they needed, and Lewis County took the win in the Area Championship 43-32 over E.O. Coffman. Maddox Tanner had 15 points in the win, Phenix McDonald and Dakota Hull each had 9 points, Bo Banks added 7, and Kobe Feichtinger 3.

The Panthers hosted the Legacy Middle School Lions of Franklin in the second round of the TMSAA Class 2A Sectional Tournament on Monday night, January 3oth. The Panthers, the Area 9 Champions, received a first-round bye as the #1 seed from Area 9, faced a Legacy Lions team that took down the Spring Hill Raiders in the opening round on Saturday.

After the Panthers took a lead midway through the first quarter, the Lions went on an 11-0 run to close out the quarter and took a 15-5 lead at the end of the first. After a Dakota Hull basket cut the Lion lead to single digits at 15-7,the Lions again went on a run and took a 24-10 lead at the halftime break. After an early Lion basket in the third quarter, the Panthers scored eight straight points to again cut the lead under ten. But Legacy continued to fend off Lewis County runs and held a 33-20 advantage moving into the fourth quarter. The Panthers would claw to within six points midway through the fourth, but the Legacy lead was too much as the Panthers were forced to put the Lions at the free throw line to manage the clock late and the Lions pulled away to a 44-35 win. Bo Banks led the Panthers with13 points, Maddox Tanner added 9, Dakota Hull had 8, and Kobe Feichtinger 6.