Basketball: Panthers get huge district victory

Tyrone Moorer knew when he entered the game with 55 seconds left that he might be relied on to make a big shot.

Little did he know just how big it would be.

Moorer nailed a wide-open 3-pointer with 4 seconds left to let the Permian Panthers beat Abilene High 65-62 in a District 3-5A game Friday at the Permian Fieldhouse.

“I knew my team could come to me,” Moorer said. “I knew I had to knock it down if I got it.”

After Abilene High’s Demarcus Deckard tied the game at 62-62 with 11 seconds left with a free throw, Permian’s Eric Clark took the inbounds pass and drove to his own free-throw line, where he was triple teamed. Clark saw Moorer open, and the junior’s rattled around on the rim before falling through the net.

“I was real surprised. I thought Eric would take it all the way,” Moorer said. “I just didn’t think about it, stepped up and hit it.”

The victory keeps Permian (6-18 overall, 3-3 district) in a tie for third place in the district standings with Abilene Cooper, which lost to the Panthers earlier this season.

While Moorer provided the game-winner, Clark and Cameron Phillips put Permian in position to win the game.

“The whole time I was thinking about going all the way and trying to draw contact,” Clark said. “I knew I didn’t have anything so I hit the open man and thank God he hit it.”

Clark helped stabilize a rattled Permian team down the stretch.

Permian took a 58-55 lead on Andrew Bell’s 3-pointer with 3:15 remaining. The Panthers then scored one point over the next 1:45 until Clark tied it up with a layup. He then got a defensive rebound and made 1-of-2 free throws to set up the frantic finish.

“We were having so many problems because there was no go to guy,” Permian coach Danny Wright said. “But this is a big part of this team. We are strong together and not very good by ourselves.”

Phillips started and played most of the game in place of Diontae Alford, who is out until February. Phillips had 15 points and eight rebounds, while Clark added 26 points and three rebounds.

“We just came together and played as a team,” Clark said. “There ain’t no one player on this team, and Tyrone hit that 3-pointer, but it could have been anyone. It just happened to by Tyrone.”

Kortney McDow and Seth Carroll each had 13 points for Abilene High (8-15, 0-6).