By JEFF ALLISON / Special to the Reporter 

OPELIKA – The Pelham Panthers had to go on the road on Feb. 13 to face Opelika in the 6A sub-regional round, with a berth in the regional tournament on the line. The Panthers were down 13-5 midway through the first quarter, but went on a 12-0 run to get the lead and take control of the game, and won 67-49.

In the first quarter, Alex Reese made a layup and the Panthers trailed 5-3 with 6:06 left in the quarter. With 4:38 left in the quarter, Reese grabbed a rebound and had a put back to cut the Opelika lead to 10-5. With Opelika leading 13-5, Justin Allison hit a three-pointer with 3:32 left in the quarter to cut the Bulldogs lead to 13-8. With 2:40 left in the quarter, Reese had a dunk to trip the Opelika lead to 13-10. With 45 seconds left in the quarter, Allison made a driving layup and the Panthers took at 15-13 lead that they did not give back the rest of the game.

In the second quarter, Reese made a layup and Pelham led 19-16 with 7:20 left in the quarter. With 4:40 left in the half, Allison threw an ally-oop dunk to Reese and the Panthers led 26-17. On the next Opelika possession and off a Bulldogs miss, Allison grabbed the rebound on the break and threw another pass to Reese for a thunderous dunk, which led to an Opelika timeout. With 3:53 left in the half, Reese made another dunk and Pelham led 30-17. With 18 seconds left in the half, Reese made a layup from Allison and Pelham let 34-25 at the half.

In the third quarter, Allison led off with a 3-pointer and Pelham led 37-25 with 7:40 left in the quarter. With 5:29 left in the quarter, Seth Torman made a layup and the Panthers led 41-29. With 3:53 left in the quarter, Allison hit a 3-pointer and Pelham led 44-32. With 3:11 left in the quarter, Allison came right back and hit his third 3-pointer of the quarter and Pelham extended their lead to 47-32. With three seconds left to go, Reese made a layup and Pelham led 54-37 after three quarters.

In the fourth quarter, Reese made a layup with 6:51 left in the quarter and Pelham led 56-37. With 6:35 left in the quarter, Allison made another three-pointer, his seventh of the game, and Pelham led 59-42. The Panthers kept the pressure on the rest of the fourth quarter as Reese scored the last eight points for the big sub-region victory.

For Pelham, Reese scored 39 points with 25 rebounds on the night. Allison added 23 points & 8 assists and was 7-of-9 shooting from 3’s on the night. Torman added five points for the Panthers. Up next, Pelham plays Bessemer City on Thursday at 1;30 p.m. at Alabama State in Montgomery.