MONTICELLO – The Brookhaven Panthers ran their record to 9-0 with a 63-52 win over Lawrence County in Friday night basketball action at LCHS.

The teams were knotted at 49-49 with four minutes left in the game, but the Panthers finished the Cougars off with a 14-3 run.

Jimmie Butler’s Panthers remain undefeated with the win. Lawrence County, coached by Pat Bridges, fell to 5-4 with the loss.

With the game tied at 49-49, Ole Brook senior Lazorian McNulty scored six straight points to push the Panthers into the lead. McNulty led all scorers with 21 points. He scored 12 in the first quarter as Brookhaven jumped out to a double-digit lead, then scored nine more in the fourth, willing his team to the win after that early lead had evaporated.

Damarius Brooks followed with 12 points. Danarius Gray and Garrick Smith each had eight.

“This game just made us a better team,” said BHS coach Jimmie Butler. “Tonight we played with tenacity and grit. Many times we were faced with adversity and we played through it. I tell them all the time that it is not always how or who start a game, instead it’s how we finish it. LC is a very good team and well coached. We just could not stop the big guy. Our depth is the strength and endurance that allows us to be very competitive. We have many strategies that allows us to gain favor early in a ballgame. One strategy allows us to substitute certain players in the game which allows us to become better and changes our game strategy. Tonight proved this concept is working.”

Lawrence County found itself in a double-digit hole almost from the outset, but the Cougars clawed their way back into the game. Early in the third, LCHS tied the game at 30-30. With 3:15 left in the period, a Lane Rutland basket gave the Cougars their first lead, at 36-35. The game would be tied nine times in the second half, with McNulty’s run breaking the final tie and putting Ole Brook ahead to stay.

Big man Keyshawn Feazell kept Lawrence County in the game almost single-handedly. He had 15 points, 14 rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots. Gabriel Lewis added 12 points, and Phillip Moore had 11. The Cougars’ inability to make outside shots proved to be their undoing. LCHS hit just 1-of-12 three-point attempts.

In girls’ play, Vicki Rutland’s Lady Cougars improved to 5-3 with a 52-28 win over Preston Wilson’s Lady Panthers. Sophomore forward Camryn Davis led Lawrence County with 15 points and seven rebounds. Zipporah Baylis added nine points, six rebounds and four steals. DeNeisha Dickson also had nine points.

Lawrence County grabbed a double-digit lead in the first quarter, and held a 10-12 point lead for most of the night, stretching the margin further in the fourth quarter. All 18 Lady Cougars who dressed saw considerable action in the game, with 12 of them entering the scoring column.

Mya Washington led Ole Brook with eight points. Taylor Carter and freshman center Tamia Stallings had six points each. The Lady Panthers fell to 1-7 with the loss.