By Brad Greer

There are  not many times when a team can hit 38 percent in field goal percentage  and a little more than half of their free throws and still come out victorious, but North Panola scratched and clawed their way to do just that.

Deunta Howard’s short jumper in the paint with nine seconds remaining in overtime gave the Cougars a 55-54 victory over  Charleston Monday night in the opening round of the Cougar Classic.

The win gave North Panola its fourth victory in a row to improve their record to 8-5 on the season while the Tigers, led by former North Delta boys head coach Frank Miller fell to 2-6 on the year.

“We have not been shooting three pointers well at all this season but we were very physical on defense and that is what pulled us through plus we also hit some key shots when it counted,” said second-year Cougar head coach Leroy Boyd.

Charleston sent the game into overtime when Vohagus Joiner hit a layup that bounced on the rim two times before falling into the basket to knot the game at 49 with 18 seconds remaining.

The lead changed hands four times in the extra period as Joiner’s three-point play  gave the Tigers a 52-49 lead with 3:26 left. Darius Loveberry’s steal and layup gave North Panola a 53-52 lead at the 1:23 mark only to have Charleston regain the lead at 54-53 on a Jimmy Nunally basket with 46 seconds remaining.

Following a time out, the Cougars worked the clock down to 14 seconds before Howard worked his way inside for the game-winning shot.

North Panola struggled from beyond the three-point line the entire night by connecting on three of 18 shots. Loveberry, who led all scorers with 19 points, drained a key trey  to cut the Tiger lead to 37-33 with one minute left in the third quarter.

The Cougars hit 12-of-23 shots from the charity stripe but none proved to be bigger when  Howard hit a pair of technical foul free throws to pull North Panola within one at 45-44 with 3:22 left in regulation.

“I thought what really turned the game around in our favor was the two technical foul shots. We had been miserable at the free throw line all night but Deunta came through when it counted,” said Boyd.

Charleston took a 27-22 lead at intermission  thanks largely in part to Chuck Jones and Cameron Myers who scored eight points each.

Howard followed Loveberry in scoring with 13 while Cameron Short added 10. Brandon Bagwell registered eight and Ricky Hunt chipped in with five points.

The North Panola girls were scheduled to play Charleston, but the Lady Tigers elected not to take place in the tournament. Charleston was replaced by Memphis Overton  who took on Independence and West Tallahatchie.