Perry’s late push smothered in loss to Ware County

PERRY — Ware County (17-3, 6-1 Region 1-4A) delivered a brutal first strike in their eventual 86-49 win over Perry (5-14, 1-6 Region) on Friday, despite the Panthers making a second-half push.

The Gators came out quick in the first quarter. They crashed the glass hard, pushed out with a blistering pace and delivered blow after blow in the early going.

By the time 5:30 had passed in the game Perry faced a 10-point deficit and it only worsened as Ware County took a 25-8 lead into the second period.

This was another of three recent slow starts for the Panthers, something head coach Mark Gainous said has been plaguing his team.

“We’ve gotten off to slow starts for some reason. We got down big over at Benedictine the other night. We went down 10-0 I think to Wayne [County],” Gainous said. “Our M.O. has been we get off to a really poor start [in the] first quarter.”

Things heated up as the game went on, though it took until late in the third quarter for Perry for draw close enough to entertain a comeback.

The Panthers picked up the pace coming out of halftime and were able to string together enough scores to come within 14 with 2:50 left in the third.

Usually they’re not a fast-paced team. In the first half they were much slower and more methodical, emphasizing half court offense and ball security. But Gainous noted after the game that they had to move a bit faster with the size of their deficit.

Unfortunately for the Panthers that was as close as they’d get to a comeback.

From 2:50 in the third to 6:30 in the fourth the Gators outscored them 24-10 with another blitz.

Length and athleticism was their greatest strength, and while Perry has some size, it’s not quite the same.

“They’re long. [They have a 6-foot-7] kid inside, and then they have a lot of 6’3s and 6’4s where our guys are like 6’2 and beefy, real strong,” Gainous said. “So we have size, but they have the athleticism and length. It caused us some issues.”

UP NEXT

Perry will play on Saturday, Jan. 24 against Macon County at 2 p.m.

Ware County heads back South to host Long County on Saturday, Jan. 24 at 5:30 p.m.