Through the first three games of the 23rd annual Pepsi Carolina Classic, the Lake City Panthers relied on hot shooting, hitting free throws and pressure defense to carry them to the championship game against Marlboro County on New Year’s Eve.
But the shooting cooled and the Panthers struggled at the free throw line on their way to a 52-44 loss to the Bulldogs.
“We didn’t play as aggressively tonight as we did the rest of the tournament,” Panthers’ head coach Willie Thomas said. “We didn’t shoot the ball well from outside or near the basket, and we didn’t hit our free throws.”
Even with the poor shooting, Lake City kept the game close, falling behind 37-35 at the end of the third quarter. Marlboro County then went on a 7-0 scoring run to start the final period.
The Panthers managed to whittle the Bulldogs’ lead to only two later the in the fourth period, but couldn’t take away the lead before Marlboro County went on another scoring run to put the game out of reach.
Corey Baker was the only Lake City player to score in double digits with 17 points to go along with nine rebounds.
The Panthers finished the tournament as runners-up. Baker was also named to the six-player all-tournament team.
Lake City defeated Hemingway 83-76 in the semi-finals to earn their place in the championship game.
The Panthers built a 43-35 halftime lead over the Tigers and led by as many as 13 points in the third quarter. Hemingway cut the lead to 62-61 early in the fourth quarter, but Lake City scored the next six points to lead by seven.
Jeremi’ McCrea scored a game-high 23 points for Lake City. Domanic Wilson added 15, Dashawn Butler scored 14, and Desmond Haygood finished with 12.
Lake City boys and girls teams will return to action Friday night when they travel to Kingstree.
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