MCCOMB – The Brookhaven Panthers pulled out a thrilling, 63-61Friday night victory over the McComb Tigers on a layup by seniorforward Fred Mackabee with six seconds left on the clock. RayshoneAutman provided the assist. Mackabee also scored the tying goal afew seconds earlier.

In the girls game, center Ayana Tillman’s game-high 25 pointsdirected the 5-1 Lady Panthers to the 63-54 win over the LadyTigers. Tillman also pulled down seven rebounds and blocked fourshots.

“We celebrated for about six minutes, ” said Brookhaven headboys coach Dan Presley. “This is a game where we really matured alot. We had a total team effort. Our guards protected the ball realwell.”

McComb is led by 6-foot-10 center Jackie Butler. Presley waspleased his team’s defensive performance against Butler.

“The big boy from McComb, Jackie Butler, is something we haven’tseen,” said Presley. “Rayshone Autman and Lamar Hall really playedtheir hearts out trying to defend him.”

Mackabee scored eight of his 18 points in the fourth quarter.Brandon Caston followed with 15 points and Lamar Hall netted12.

McComb got a game-high 21 points from D.J. Carr. Butler finishedwith 16 points.

The Panthers improved to 6-1 overall. They led McComb 34-29 athalftime.

Brookhaven plays again Monday night at Port Gibson.

The Lady Panthers trailed the Lady Tigers 13-12 at the end ofthe first quarter and pushed their lead to 36-28 at the half.Brookhaven came back with a 15-9 run to go ahead of McComb 45-44.In the final frame, the Lady Panthers outscored the Lady Tigers18-11 to bring home the win over Coach Carolyn Whitehead’ssquad.

Adding support to the Brookhaven girls with 12 points, foursteals, and four assists was playmaker Aneidra Stanton. Collectingsix rebounds was Anna Autman.

“This was a big win for us,” said Brookhaven girls coach RonaldGill.

Stephanie Young paced McComb with 13 points, including four3-pointers.