Southside coach Cedric Brown coached against his former high school coach for the first time Thursday in the Panthers’ battle with Greenville.

Teacher got the better of student, as Greenville (13-5) took advantage of Southside mistakes and turned the game into a 73-45 blowout victory.

“That lets me know I have a lot to learn as a coach,” Southside coach Cedric Brown said. “Me and [Greenville head] coach [Kelvin] Lett, we talk pretty much daily about X’s and O’s. He’s doing a great job with his guys.”

Lett said he coached the Panthers’ B-team in the year 2000. Brown was on that team.

Greenville had a height advantage at nearly every position and it showed in Thursday’s game. Southside was able to stick with the Tigers in the first quarter by knocking down deep shots, but once those stopped falling and the turnovers began adding up, Greenville pulled away.

“You can’t win a ballgame with as many turnovers as we had,” Brown said. “The first quarter was a great quarter but to turn the ball over and over, you just can’t beat a team that way.”

Greenville led only 14-12 at the end of the opening quarter, but dominated the second quarter by limiting the Panthers to only one field goal attempt on most trips.

Zac Smith, who led the Tigers in scoring with 14 points, scored eight of his points in the second. He knocked down two three-pointers and turned a steal into a quick layup at the end of the quarter. Greenville led 37-18 at halftime.

“Our transition game is being taught from the middle school up in our system and we want to make sure we use our athleticism,” Lett said. “We are really more of a football team so we have a lot of athletes. Those guys you see running the floor are three great wide receivers we have down there so we like to use them in running the floor and things they can do very well.”

The Tigers pushed their lead to 61-33 after three quarters and the fourth quarter had a running clock because Greenville took a 30-point lead. Scott Cole and Khamari Gibbs led Southside with eight points apiece.

 

Greenville 64, Southside 45 (girls)

Southside put together impressive runs at the end of each half Thursday, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Greenville.

The Tigers jumped out to an early double digit lead and withstood Southside’s best efforts to hang on for a 64-45 victory.

Southside trailed 19-6 after the first quarter but the Lady Panthers scored 12 of the 15 points in the second period to get right back into the game.

Greenville used a full court press in the second half and quickly pulled away due to Southside turnovers.

“We’ve seen every press there is to see. Nobody is using anything we haven’t seen before or anything foreign,” Southside coach Jason Bothwell said. “We just have to have enough encourage and be solid in our assignment and know what to do when it’s time to do it.”

Eboni Ethridge knocked down two three-pointers in the third quarter to help Greenville extend its lead to 43-25.

Adrienna Taylor scored 19 points to lead Greenville in scoring and Shak Rudolph scored 18.

Calvondrea Blackmon led Southside with 23 points.