On Friday night, the Pflugerville Panthers boys’ basketball team played their second home game of the 2009-10 season against the Killeen Ellison Eagles. After a slow start on the defensive end of the court, Coach Mike Murphy’s Panthers were able to regroup and come away with 92-83 victory.

“This was an incredible high school basketball game between two quality programs,” Murphy said.

In the first quarter, the Panthers shot the ball very well but got behind on the scoreboard because the Eagles were able to continually come up with offensive rebounds. After the Panthers took an 11-6 lead following a Jarrell Turner three-pointer, the Eagles answered with a 14-7 run behind the dominating board play of Jaleel Lee, who accounted for eight points in the quarter.

The Panthers were able to stay close behind the play of junior Dion Mitchell, who had 11 points in the quarter. Mitchell, who is considered one of the top players in the state for the class of 2011, showed off his entire offensive repertoire with dazzling drives to the basket, a deep three-pointer, and mid-range jumpers with both hands. Despite Mitchell’s heroics, the Panthers still trailed 25-22 at the end of the quarter.

In the second quarter, the Panthers’ Keith Bunton and Pierce Simpson would help get Pflugerville back in the game by providing defensive intensity and rebounding, which had been missing in the opening quarter. Bunton harassed the Eagles’ guards into several turnovers, while Simpson provided a physical presence on the inside with his rebounding and surprising shot blocking ability. Offensively the Panthers relied on seven straight points by Turner at the end of the quarter to take a 44-43 halftime lead.

After halftime, the Panthers came out on fire. Led by the play of Demetrius Smith, who recently committed to Lamar University, the Panthers outscored the Eagles 29-14 during the quarter. Smith started the second-half scoring by converting a lay-up off a Mitchell steal. The versatile forward then excited the home crowd with a breakaway slam-dunk to give the Panthers a 50-43 lead.

With the Panthers leading by 10 points, Simpson scored six straight points and Smith added another bucket to give the Panthers a commanding 73-57 lead at the end of three quarters of play.

In the fourth quarter, the Panthers would build their lead to 17 points following a three-pointer by Sultan Kamara. However, turnovers and poor rebounding would allow the Eagles to climb back in the game. Led by the play of Devante Brown and Cameron Gunter, the Eagles were able to come up with several key baskets to cut the Panthers lead to seven points at 90-83, before Mitchell scored the final basket of the night.

“They have tremendous quickness and speed which we do also,” added Murphy. “I’m glad we had this game early so we could see this kind of quickness because in some games we do not see it.”

The Panthers, who improved to 2-0, were led in scoring by Turner with 22 points, while Smith and Mitchell added 20 points each. The Eagles were led in scoring by Brown with 24 points.