THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Permian High School Athletics

The Permian Panthers took a big step forward in the District 2-6A boys basketball race Tuesday, defeating the Odessa High Bronchos 62-44 in the first crosstown meeting of the season at the Permian Fieldhouse. Permian (20-3 overall, 2-0 district) kept pace with Amarillo Tascosa atop the 2-6A standings. The Panthers host the Rebels, who defeated Wolfforth Frenship 66-34 on Tuesday, on Friday for sole possession of the district lead. Panthers coach Tim Thomas said the key for his team was maintaining focus on the task at hand in the midst of all that comes with the crosstown games. “Our philosophy is we want to try to take care of us and do what we do best,” Thomas said. “We believe that if we do those things, that more times than not we’ve got a great chance to be successful. The feeling is when we take care of us, we take care of everything.” Brother Miller scored a game-high 16 points to lead the Panthers, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers late in the second quarter as Permian pulled away. Elijah White scored 11 points, hitting three 3-pointers, and Ozzy Terrazas added 10 points for Permian. Odessa High (17-6, 1-1) dropped into a tie for third place with Midland High. The Bronchos visit the Bulldogs at the Chaparral Center on Friday. Kaleb Murry led the Bronchos with 14 points with Memo Anaya adding 12, but Permian put the defensive clamps on Odessa High’s perimeter shooters Isaac Hernandez and Miguel Fonseca. The duo combined for 43 points in Friday’s district opener, but Hernandez was held to nine points and Fonseca was scoreless as the Bronchos went 19 of 41 from the floor (46.3 percent), including 5 of 16 on 3-pointers. Odessa High problems were compounded by 21 turnovers as Permian cranked up the defensive pressure. “Their defense … holy cow, man,” Bronchos coach Jance Morris said. “All the credit to Coach Thomas and his staff. They came out and that’s the best defense and the best team we’ve seen all year.” The Panthers took the lead for good at 8-6 on a 3-pointer by Derrick Wright, who finished with nine points, with 3:15 to go in the first quarter, but the Bronchos didn’t go quietly. After Miller capped a 7-0 run with a fast-break dunk to put Permian up 20-10 with 4:18 left in the second quarter, Murry answered with a pair of baskets to get the Bronchos back within five at the 3:11 mark. Miller’s 3-pointers pushed the lead back 11 points and another 3-pointer by Wright gave Permian a 31-19 halftime lead. “We just tried to focus in on defense and get some stops,” Miller said. “We pride ourselves on sharing the ball, getting it to our playmakers and letting them shoot. I felt like we did a good job. Coach said we had 19 assists, so we just tried to share the ball and play within our offense.” Odessa High cut the margin to 10 points twice early in the third quarter, but Permian used a 13-2 run to take its largest lead of the game at 46-25.

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Permian High School Athletics

PERMIAN PUTS CLAMPS ON ODESSA HIGH AS PANTHERS STAY ATOP DISTRICT STANDINGS

SAM WALLER

Odessa American | 1/16/2018

PHOTO CREDIT: Permian Athletics