The Alba-Golden Panthers made the best of their playoff opportunity, taking Como-Pickton to overtime before falling 33-31 on a final second shot to the Eagles. The Eagles’ Alex Perez hit a lay-up as time ran out in the overtime to secure the Como-Pickton win.

The game was a defensive battle with neither offense taking control. Alba-Golden was unable to get rolling in the opening quarter. The Panthers’ Gavin Daily scored the only Panther point in the opening quarter with a free throw. 

The second quarter found both teams’ offenses have trouble finding the bucket. Como-Pickton took a 15-5 advantage going into intermission. Daily and Braylon Moffett got the Panthers’ only scores in the quarter as the Eagles stretched their lead to 10 points.

The Panthers came back in the second half to cut the Eagle to 20-15 going into the final quarter. The Panthers were sparked by triples from Blake Weissert and Moffett.

In the exciting final quarter, Moffett hit the tying points and the game ended in a 26-26 tie. In the overtime, the Panthers got points from Weissert and Moffett taking a 31-28 lead with just 1:36 left in the overtime. The Eagles came back with a score from Tucker Rutledge to make it 31-30 with the Panthers holding the slim margin. A free throw by the Eagle’s Perez tied the contest at 31-31 setting the stage for his game clincher with two seconds to go.

The Panthers’ season is over but they fought to the very end.

Como-Pickton moves on to take on Rivercrest in bidistrict.