Sand Mountain Reporter

BIRMINGHAM — The Birmingham-Southern Panthers got a hard-fought 72-52 win over the visiting LaGrange College Panthers to open the 2009-10 season for both teams.

BSC came out a little cold from the long offseason, shooting a chilly 25 percent across the board in the first half of Monday’s game.

LaGrange couldn’t capitalize until the closing minutes of the first half. The score was tied at 19 with 4:27 remaining, and LaGrange closed the half on a 5-1 run to build a small 24-20 edge at halftime.

The Panthers came out in the second half and quickly scored the first five points to retake the lead 25-24.

BSC led 38-37 at 13:50 and proceeded to rattle off 15 points to just two for LaGrange to take a 53-39 lead with just over 10 minutes to play.

The run started with a Roger Williams’ layup and was capped with another from Mark Messenger to put BSC in firm command of the game.

LaGrange never got closer than nine points for the remainder of the game.

The Panthers were led by Aaron Parr with 16 points. Roger Williams pulled in the most rebounds on the night with eight.

Jasen Jonus, a former Crossville star, and Messenger joined Parr in double-figures with 14 and 10 points, respectively.

Southern shot 40 percent from the floor (29-of-73) and 36 percent from behind the arc (8-of-22). They were 6-of-11 from the free-throw line.

LaGrange was led in scoring by Joe Cromwell with 14 points and five rebounds.

They were 20-of-44 (46 percent) from the floor on the night, and just 3-of-10 from 3-point range. LC was 9-of-15 from the foul line.

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Serving Albertville and the Sand Mountain region

Publisher: Ben Shurett

1603 Progress Drive
Albertville, Alabama 35950

Tel: 256-840-3000 | Email

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