It took nearly a full quarter for the Panthers to get going Friday night, but when they did, they had no problems putting Heritage away.  The Panthers led by just seven after the first quarter, but ended up defeating the Mountaineers in Heritage 68-44.

The game got off to a very slow start as the Panthers scored just 12 points in the opening quarter and led 12-5 after one.  However, a three by Hayden Park and a layup by Tyler Hood late in the first began to awaken the Panthers and they really opened things up in the second.
Hood opened the quarter with a layup and then Dylan Powers grabbed a rebound and took it the length of the court for a layup.

The run continued for Lenoir City as Caleb Mabry stole the ball on the ensuing possession and found freshman Jordan Hall for a layup. Hall was fouled on the play and completed the three-point play.
Mabry earned another steal on the ensuing possession and, this time, took it to the hoop himself.
The Mountaineers had to call timeout to slow the Panther momentum, as they had turned a seven point game into a 21-5 lead in the span of one minute.

The teams traded shots for a while after the timeout, but the Panthers went right back on another run a couple minutes later.  Hood started it with a layup and Andrew Blosser followed with another layup and Jared Hilton drained a three to put LC up 32-12.
The Mountaineers were able to climb back into the game a little bit, as they trailed 37-23 at the break.

The third quarter saw the Mountaineers climb back to within 10 in the opening couple of minutes and, at that point, Lenoir City Head Coach Kevin Windle went to his bench.  He pulled his entire starting five and brought in the second team, citing an attempt to ignite things a bit.
"The flow just wasn't going  . . . the effort was there, but the flow wasn't going," he said.  "It wasn't that (the starters) were doing anything wrong necessarily, they just weren't being productive."
So, he decided, "let's change things up, change things and see what happens."

What happened was complete dominance by the Panthers as the group of Dylan Moore, Park, Blosser, Nathan Lester and Billy Ault outscored the Mountaineers 15-3 in their four minutes in the game together.

"They really stood up to the challenge and propelled us to victory," Windle said.

From there, the Panthers simply held serve and cruised to their 24-point win.
Moore was the only Panther to score in double digits, as he tallied 10.
Cody Wagner led the Mountaineers with 12 points.

The Panthers will be back in action Monday night when they travel to Oliver Springs.  They'll then host Sweetwater Tuesday night.
Both games are set for 8 p.m.