THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Permian High School Athletics

The Permian basketball team got the calendar year off to a good start, putting up a 74-35 win over Abilene Wylie on Friday at the Permian Fieldhouse. Coming off a winning the title at the Lubbock Caprock tournament last week, the Panthers (16-2) used a big first half to build a 33-10 lead at the break. “I thought we went out and played pretty hard,” Permian head coach Tim Thomas said. “We improved. We had a lot of good experience in the Caprock tournament. We played some tough teams. I thought that helped prepare us. I thought today we played better team basketball against a good team. I thought as a team, we improved.” Permian was led by Nakavieon White, who had 20 points total, while Jase Taylor had 19 and Shy Stephens-Deary had 12. Payton Brooks had 12 points to lead the Bulldogs (10-11), while Shayden Payne had six and Jahzair George had four. “You’re never really happy with a loss, but you’re never happy when you lose when you got out-hustled,” Abilene Wylie head coach Gregg Ruffin said. “I think we came out and didn’t have any fight in us. Permian’s really good and so well coached. Tim Thomas does a good job with his players. But you always have to step on the floor and we didn’t do that tonight.” The Panthers got off to a strong start and took an 18-3 lead at the end of the first quarter. Calvione Calicutt’s putback gave the Panthers a 20-3 lead early in the second quarter and Stephens-Deary took the ball up court just seconds later for a layup. George scored from inside the perimeter for the Bulldogs’ first field goal of the second quarter. Cedric Baty found White, who finished off the inside field goal and the Panthers continued to score basket after basket. A transition basket by White made it 31-5 for the Panthers with 2:54 left in the second quarter. Another field goal by White extended Permian’s lead and the Panthers soon went into the locker room with a 33-10 halftime lead. Thomas said he was proud of his team’s defensive performance. “We try to hang our hats on our defensive effort and this group has been doing a great job of executing the game plan,” Thomas said. “I thought we did a good job of following the game plan on defense. That’s been a big part of our success.” The teams traded baskets left and right as Wylie’s shooting started to come to life in the second half. But Permian’s shots continued to fall through and Jase Taylor’s basket gave the Panthers a 44-21 lead with 3:03 left in the third quarter. The Bulldogs then used a quick 5-0 run to try and cut some of the distance between them and the Panthers. Keyonta Johnson broke that run with an inside shot of his own to make it 46-26 soon after. The Panthers’ lead was 50-29 as they ended the third quarter. Permian’s run continued well into the fourth quarter.

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Permian High School Athletics

PERMIAN RETURNS TO ACTION IN WIN OVER ABILENE WYLIE

MICHAEL BAUER

Odessa American | 1/3/2020

PHOTO CREDIT: Permian Athletics