Magnolia’s winning streak stretched to seven Friday as it had no mercy on Hamburg in 4A Region 8 Conference play at Panther Arena.
“The kids came out and were aggressive offensively. We’re pushing the ball more and making better decisions. I challenged them to be aggressive if they could and get to the rim, but don’t hesitate to pass it if someone cuts them off,” Dyun Long said following the Panthers 85-30 victory over the Lions.
The victory kept the Panthers perfect in league play with a 5-0 mark and improved their overall record to 13-2.
Their next battle will come Tuesday night against the Warren Lumberjacks, but the game will be played at Fordyce High School because of problems with the Warren gymnasium.
The win over Hamburg was Magnolia’s highest scoring output of the season and the second time it has held an opponent to only 30 points in a game.
“We finally shot the ball well from the outside and it was fun to watch,” said Long. “The kids played well. The crowd was into the game and the fans were loud. It was fun for everybody.”
For the second consecutive game, two Magnolia freshmen has either combined for more or nearly more points than the opponent.
Derrian Ford (30) and Colby Garland (16) had 46 points compared to Camden Fairview’s 50 earlier last week.
On Friday, Garland had 20 points and Ford finished with 16, which was six more than Hamburg’s total of 30 points. Junior Braelyn Beasley was again the leader off the bench by adding 12 points.
“Colby (five 3-pointers) was hot as a firecracker. We were getting to rim and even Markeveon Strickland was shooting the ball well,” said Long. “We pretty much was doing what we wanted to do and what we had been practicing.”
Back-to-back 3-pointers by Hamburg gave an early 6-2 advantage to the Lions, but Garland responded with consecutive long-range jumpers of his own. Magnolia never looked back, later reeled off 14 unanswered points and led 24-8 after the first break.
The Panthers continued to roll in the second period, led again with back-to-back 3-pointers by Garland. Beasley had six points during a 16-0 Magnolia run.
After allowing the Lions only eight points in the first period, the Panther defense did the same in the second eight minutes to make the half-time score 46-16.
The Panthers led by as much as 42 points, 68-26, with three minutes to play in the third quarter and were up by 50, 78-28, when the buzzer sounded.
Reserves played the final period as the Panthers won by 55, 85-30.
“We had several guys doing different things other than scoring. Kadyn Roach didn’t score a lot of points, but there’s no telling how many assists he had,” said Long. “Let me tell that if a player has double-digit assists, that means you’re doing something right offensively.”
According to Long, the Panthers are sharing the basketball well and being unselfish. As for running more, he said he has more confidence that the players will continue making better decisions with the basketball.
“We are going to try and continue this (pushing the ball) as long as we can,” Long added, also mentioning it was great for other players to get varsity action.
“It’s great to play at home, get a big win and everyone gets to play,” he said.
As for playing the Lumberjacks at Fordyce Tuesday night, Long said he knows they are big and athletic.
“I’ve seen them and they try to do what we do, which is push the basketball. Hopefully we can keep them off the boards and give them only one opportunity. That’s my biggest concern with them,” he stated.
The coach said his Panthers must again become road Warriors and take the game one quarter at a time.
Magnolia has lost twice on the road to the same team, but one game was played at a neutral site.
Lady Panthers 42,
Lady Lions 30
Jadda Purifoy had 11 points as the Lady Panthers (9-7, 3-2) defeated Hamburg 42-30 Friday to climb back into a second-place conference tie with Star City and Warren.
Magnolia and Warren will square off at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Fordyce High School gymnasium.
De’Asia Walker and Keshuntia Brantley followed Purifoy in scoring with seven points apiece, while Kiara Frazier and Ashanti Humbert added five each.
Magnolia never trailed in the game, leading 9-3 after one quarter and up 23-14 at the half.
The Lady Lions closed the gap to one late in the third period, but Magnolia managed to lead 33-27 when the buzzer sounded.
The Lady Panthers pulled away in the fourth period, eventually winning by 12. They hit 5-of-10 free throws over the final three minutes.