The Panthers’ chance to secure a playoff spot were snatched away by the Eagles last Tuesday in Como-Pickton, where Alba-Golden lost 61-30.

The Eagles quickly clawed out an 11-0 lead propelled by three three-pointers. Blake Weissert scored the only Panther bucket of the first quarter just over four and a half minutes after tipoff.

Alba-Golden struggled to find open shots against a disciplined zone defense, and the ones they did just did not fall. They missed all five of their three-point attempts in the opening quarter.

Near the end of the first, Boedy Baker sustained an ankle injury and had to sit the rest of the game, hobbling the Panthers.

It was 14-2 after eight minutes.

Will Hartin hit one of his two threes early in the second period, and Kaden Kennedy scored a bucket down low. Alba-Golden was keeping pace, but still trailed 22-10.

Como-Pickton closed out the period with three more buckets to push the halftime margin to 28-10.

To make a comeback after the break the Panthers would need to have fewer turnovers than the eight they relinquished in the first half and get busy on the boards. But they had another eight giveaways, and the Eagles out-soared them with 12 rebounds to five in the latter half of the game.

Como-Pickton leveraged these advantages to take a 49-23 lead after three quarters.

Alba-Golden scored seven points early in the fourth and with the score 51-30, the Eagles used a timeout. Whatever was said in the huddle resulted in the Panthers being shut out the rest of the game, while Como-Pickton picked up 10 more points to close the night.

Weissert finished with 13 points. Kaden Kennedy had seven each of points and rebounds. Hartin scored six. Jack Patton had two points and three boards while Kyle Kennedy scored two and grabbed two. Baker got one rebound before being injured.

The loss left the Panthers tied with Quinlan Boles for the fourth-place playoff spot.