The Saint Jo Panthers won their district home opener against Gold-Burg on Tuesday night.
The Panthers won 60-33 in a game that was expected to be closer or at least have a different outcome.
Saint Jo’s young team has struggled during the non-district part of its schedule as wins have come few and far between.
One of the many losses came against this same Bears’ team earlier this season at the Panthers-hosted tournament. Gold-Burg won that game by double-digits.
With a Bears team filled with mostly upper classmen and many of the same athletes that upset Saint Jo in football during the fall season, there was a feeling this might just be Gold-Burg’s year against the Panthers.
That game was a month ago and Saint Jo’s young team was missing some starters due to injury. A fully healthy Panther team and a month of growth made Tuesday night’s game go much differently than the first match-up.
Saint Jo came out and scored the first 11 points of the game halfway through the first quarter. The Panthers handled the Bear’s full-court press and aggressive trapping in the half court and made them pay when they got open shots.
On the other side, Saint Jo’s long defenders meant almost every shot Gold-Burg threw up was contested. Maybe that was the reason the Bears just could not seem to make a basket from anywhere.
Gold-Burg rallied late in the first quarter to cut the lead down to 19-9 heading into the second, but that would be as close as the score would be.
The Bears were limited to only five points in the second period. Even after misses, Saint Jo did a good job of rebounding and limiting Gold-Burg to just one shot on most of its offensive possessions.
While the Panthers offense continued to score at a good pace, it was not all sun shine and rainbows on their end. The constant pressure from the Bears started to lead to more turnovers as the game wore on, though not the kind that fueled points for Gold-Burg.
Saint Jo led 33-14 at halftime.
The third quarter got a little feisty with some technical fouls being given out to the Bears for a foul away from the ball and then for arguing with the referees.
Thankfully the teams cooled off as the game went on. The Gold-Burg player later helped the player he fouled up off the floor on another play so he would not get stepped on during play.
It did nothing to help Gold-Burg start to make shots as it scored another five points in the third quarter. It also was Saint Jo’s lowest total of the game scoring 10 points as it was just an ugly quarter overall. The Panthers lead continued to grow though as they led 43-19 heading into the final period.
With the lead out of reach, both teams played a bit more loosely which led to more scoring from both teams than any other quarter. Gold-Burg had five different players make one basket as the team equaled the total first half points (14) it scored in the fourth quarter.
It still was not more than Saint Jo which finished hot by scoring 17 points as the Panthers won 60-33.

To read the full story and see more pictures from the game, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.