The last time the Panther Creek varsity men’s basketball team faced Cary, the Catamounts needed a comeback to tie the game before narrowly escaping with a three-point overtime victory. This time around, the Catamounts held onto the lead through most of the game, while rejecting the Imps’ own comeback efforts, resulting in a 65-58 victory. The win clinched a sweep of the Catamounts’ cross-town rivals.

The Imps controlled the scoreboard at the end of the first quarter with a 16-14 lead, but a big second quarter gave the Catamounts the lead and the momentum to hang on for the seven-point win. Panther Creek outscored Cary 18-11 in the second quarter. Many of Panther Creek’s transition points came in the second quarter, when the Catamounts took advantage of the Imps ball security issues at half court.

The Catamounts denied the Imps’ efforts to retake the lead in the third quarter, as neither team gained enough traction to pull away from the other. The Catamounts defense proved vital in the low-scoring quarter. Three quarters proved to be all the Catamounts needed to win comfortably; it wasn’t very long into the fourth quarter that the Imps began fouling to stop the clock, subsequently sending the Catamounts to the foul line where they cemented their victory.

Panther Creek controlled the pace of the game with their stout offensive rebounding and fast-break efforts. The offensive rebounding led to many second-chance points and gave the Catamounts control of the clock. This was not the case the previous time these two teams faced off, when Cary dominated the boards and got many of their points on second-chance efforts. Point guard Juan Munoz led all scorers with twenty-four points, marking the sixth time the sophomore has scored twenty or more points this season. Munoz leads the Catamounts with 15.5 points per game this season. Senior Elijah Fairfax had his best game of the season, contributing ten vital points and a pair of steals off the bench.

The victory improved the Catamounts’ record to 16-3 overall and 8-1 in conference play. The Imps drop to 10-8 overall and 4-5 in the SWAC.

Catamount fans won’t have to wait long to see the men’s basketball team in action again. Panther Creek will host Fuquay-Varina, whom the Catamounts defeated 58-46 earlier this season, on Tuesday, February 4th. Shortly after the Catamounts will travel to Apex for a much-anticipated matchup on Friday, February 7th.

UPDATE: Panther Creek defeated Fuquay-Varina 70-60 to improve their record to 17-3 overall and 9-1 in the SWAC.