By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor
HOOVER – A great defensive start for the Pelham Panthers turned into a wire-to-wire win over the Spain Park Jaguars to kick off area play.
Pelham defeated Spain Park 47-41 on Friday, Jan. 3 on the road at Jag Arena as the Panthers started out their Class 6A, Area 8 slate on the right note.
Pelham’s defense came out of the gate strong and held Spain Park scoreless until the 6:34 mark in the second quarter.
The Panthers slowly but surely built out a lead in response as a pair of Eli Lewis baskets forced a Jags timeout trailing 4-0 with 2:45 remaining in the first. A second chance basket and a Sam Tolbert 3-pointer extended the lead to 9-0 by the end of the quarter.
Kendall Smith kickstarted the quarter with a 3-pointer less than 30 seconds into the quarter. About a minute later, Tommy Morrison got the Jags on the board with a 3-pointer, but that proved to be their only basket from the field in the first half as multiple deep shots from the hosts missed the mark.