The Saint Jo Panthers were the last Montague County basketball team to end their season with a loss to state-power Graford on Saturday in the playoffs.
The Rabbits beat the Panthers 54-38 in the regional quarterfinals in a game few gave Saint Jo any chance.
The Panthers were coming off an emotional win against Ector in the area round earlier in the week, but unfortunately it came with a cost. Leading scorer Kile Thurman went out with a leg injury late in that game that saw him on crutches Saturday.
Even if he was healthy, the Rabbits still posed a big challenge. The second ranked team in the state in 1A had lost only two games all season to top ranked Slidell and state-ranked 4A team Glen Rose.
Saint Jo had first hand knowledge what they were in for. The Panthers lost to Graford back in early December by more than 50 points at home.
The Rabbits size and strength inside was a mismatch for the shorter front line from Saint Jo, combined with solid perimeter play.
The game started and the Panthers defense held up pretty well. Graford was doing everything it could to get shots near the basket. Saint Jo post defenders Payton Harris and Chance Bennett did their best to keep the Rabbits’ Cody Lembley from getting too good of position deep in the post.
Unfortunately, the other post Marc Matthews proved tougher to stop. He scored 10 points on drives and shots around the basket in the first quarter as Graford took a 12-5 lead in the first quarter.
The final two minutes of the quarter though saw Saint Jo senior point guard Cade Stevens score five points to cut the lead to 12-10 heading into the second quarter. Stevens scored all 10 of the Panthers points in the quarter as scoring chances seemed tough to create for Saint Jo.
One issue was shooter Brice Durham was face-guarded wherever he was on the court. Coming off a 26-point performance in the previous game where he made eight 3-pointers, the Rabbits were determined he was not going to have any space for catch-and-shoot opportunities.
Stevens then had to navigate the tall Graford frontline around the rim that had sent back several close shots from other Panther players.
While Saint Jo was hanging tough heading into the second quarter, it did not seem sustainable if Stevens had to score all of the team’s points.
Graford went on a little run to get some breathing room midway through the second quarter. The Rabbits forced some turnovers and were able to convert those into layups to build a double-digit lead 22-12.
Along with a basket from Bennett, a late 3-point play from Stevens was all Saint Jo could do offensively in the quarter. The Panthers trailed 26-15, but would have to find something else on offense if they wanted to get back in the game.
Saint Jo did find other players to score in the second half.
Durham and Harris drew several free throw attempts after the team drew only two in the first half. The normally defensive focused Logan Brawner also capitalized on a couple of opportunities to score as well.
Unfortunately, Graford came in with a renewed focus to get the ball in the post to Matthews and Lemley. Matthews scored 10 points in the third quarter as the Rabbits kept their lead in the double-digits.
While the Panthers had not fallen much further behind heading into the fourth quarter, they would need an offensive spark if they wanted to come back down 38-24.
Lemley really got going in the fourth quarter eight points on post ups. With the fouls adding up both teams drew a lot of free throws in the quarter.
At one point it looked like Graford was going to pull away by more than 20 points, but Saint Jo kept fighting until the end even with the possibility of a miracle comeback becoming an impossibility at the time ticked down.
The Panthers fought until the end, never letting the game get hopelessly out of reach like most outside observers expected, losing 54-38.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.