By Angie Ledbetter

The South Panola Tiger’s basketball team (4-6) continues to look for its first district win. They went on the road to face a very tough Tupelo Golden Wave team (19-2) last Tuesday night and fell 69-54. The Golden Wave are 3-0 in the division 6A region 2 and ranked No. 14 in the state.

The Golden Wave got off to a big start scoring 17 points in the first quarter when the Tigers put up only 12. The second quarter was the lowest scoring of the game with the Golden Wave adding 12 and the Tigers nine to give the Golden Wave a 29-21 lead at the half.

The Tigers fought hard in the second half putting up 15 points in the third and 18 in the fourth but it was not enough due to the Golden Wave scoring 19 in the third and finishing the fourth with 21 points.

The Tigers hosted district rivals Columbus Falcons (2-12) Friday night and fell 54-37. It was a night of under classmen for both teams as the Tigers had two seniors on their starting lineup along with two sophomores and one freshman. The Falcons started two seniors, one sophomore and two freshmen.

The Tigers got off to a slow start scoring only five points with DeAndre Harris’ three pointer and Jaylen Lee’s two. The Falcons put up eight points.

At 6:48 in the second quarter, the game tied at eight after Chad Rudd made his two free throws for the Tigers. He also scored four other points while Keenon Hentz scored three and Mataras Bobo two. The Falcons started to pull away with a little over a minute left in the quarter and had a 26-16 lead at the half.

Jakerion Ales and Harris scored four points in the third quarter while Rudd added three to round off the 11 points added on their side of the scoreboard. The Falcons added 15 points giving them a 41-27 lead at the end of the quarter.

The Falcons put up 13 points in the last quarter while the Tigers put up only 10.

The Tigers shot 63 percent from the free throw line while the Falcons shot 72 percent.

Rudd led the Tigers in scoring with 10 points, two rebounds and two steals. Harris scored seven points, had two rebounds and two steals. Ales put up five points and had seven rebounds. Bobo had four points. Hentz had three points, three rebounds and one steal. Laundrius Salter scored two points and had one rebound. Carlton Howard, Tevin Lamar and Kedell Turner scored two points each. Jaylen Lee added two points and had one steal.

The Tigers will be back in action tonight at home when they host Saltillo after the girls’ game at 6 p.m.