The Alba-Golden Panthers traveled to Como-Pickton last Tuesday, succumbing to the Eagles 34-26.
[view photos]

The Panthers got off to a rocky start, losing the physical battle and falling behind 11-2 after a quarter.

Como-Pickton continued to outplay them in the second and stretched the lead to 17. It was 19-7 at the half.

In the third quarter, Alba-Golden found the deep ball, and started to close the gap, courtesey of three-pointers by Jayden Barnhart, Blake Weissert and Brayden Randolph.

They also stepped up the defensive intesity and after an 8-0 run, pulled to within four points after a little over three minutes. But their charge was stunted and they would not climb closer to the lead.

Alba-Golden played host Friday to the Panthers of North Hopkins. [view photos]

Alba-Golden seemed to have carried over their defensive furvor from Tuesday. The opening quarter was fast-paced and the hosts trailed 16-13 after eight minutes.

Four minutes into the second, three-pointers by Luke Morrison and Gavin Parker gave Alba-Golden a 21-19 advantage.

North Hopkins answered quickly, scoring five in just over a minute, and set up a half court defense that was difficult to penetrate. Up 25-24, they held for the last shot of the half, but Alba-Golden denied them a look at the basket.

In the second half, the half-court man defense featured by North Hopkins was simply suffocating, allowing no looks at the basket. The only scoring in the third for Alba-Golden came after six minutes on a Randolph three-point shot, making it 31-27 going into the fourth.

North Hopkins was able to widen their margin to 39-27 before two more threes by Randolph and a couple free throws by Nick Hallman closed it to 39-35. Again, four was the closest Alba-Golden would come, ultimately being beaten 46-35.

The Panthers traveled Tuesday to Cumby. Friday's varsity basketball game against Cooper is rescheduled for Wednesday at 5 p.m.