BOYS BASKETBALL: Loud's drive, dish spark Permian in win

Permian basketball coach Danny Wright has been telling Tori Loud all season that he should look to drive to the basket instead of settling for outside shots.

Loud, a 6-foot-1 sophomore wing player, finally heeded the advice of his coach and second cousin late in Friday night’s game against Midland High at the Permian Fieldhouse. And when he attacked the basket, Loud ended up making the play of the game.

With the Panthers clinging to a four-point lead with less than three minutes remaining, Loud drove the lane to draw the Bulldogs’ defense and then dished to Devin Jones for a wide-open layup. It started an 8-0 run for the Panthers, who won 52-42 to clinch the second playoff seed in District 3-5A in their final home game of the regular season.

“I think it’s poetic justice that his drive was the thing that sparked us,” Wright said. “I’ve been trying to get Tori, instead of looking at the (3-pointer) and standing out there shooting the 3, trying to get him to drive because he drives beautifully.

“He’s very nimble. He has tremendous motor skills. He’s quick, he’s fast and he can jump, and he handles the ball well. That’s the description of a beautiful driver.”

PHOTO GALLERY: Permian vs. Midland High

Loud, who scored all seven of his points in the second quarter, hit one of Permian’s two 3-pointers for good measure. The other came from 6-6 forward Keouvion McCalop, who finished with a career-high 21 points and was especially good when the Panthers absolutely needed him.

RELATED: District 3-5A scores, standings

Permian (21-6 overall, 8-3 district) started the second half with a 26-23 lead. During the first 2 minutes, 30 seconds of the third quarter, McCalop made a jumper and got three putbacks to help the Panthers stretch the lead to double digits.

Then, after Loud’s feed to Jones late in the fourth quarter, McCalop drained baseline jumpers on back-to-back possessions to close out the Bulldogs (6-23, 4-7).

“That was a good dish,” McCalop said, “and I just knew after that play we had to take it over.”

Stevie Rhodes, Midland High’s 6-3, 299-pound center, scored six of his 12 points in the fourth quarter to give the Bulldogs a chance. But their inside game couldn’t keep up with Permian’s.

The 6-5 Jones finished with nine points to complement McCalop, and Permian controlled the glass in half-court situations throughout the game. Midland High coach Justin Hardin said he wanted to put the Panthers in those situations instead of letting them run the floor in transition, much like the Bulldogs did in their 46-43 win against Permian on Jan. 17, but the strategy didn’t work Friday.

“Those guys finished at the rim and they attacked the offensive glass pretty big,” Hardin said. “We’ve been a good defensive team all year and we usually do a good job, even with our lack of stature, of being able to keep other big teams off the glass.

“We did a better job of that last time, and this time their big guys got it right off the rim. They were prepared, and Coach Wright put those guys in those spots on purpose. They’re bigger than us, and he utilized that.”

>> Follow Adam Zuvanich on Twitter at @OAZuvanich