Senior Jackson Pannell matched his season-high of 25 points to help Pillow Academy defeat rival rival Washington School 53-41 Tuesday night at PA.
The Mustangs came out strong, jumping to an 18-7 lead in the first quarter, only to see the Generals pull within four, 33-29, at the half.
“We came out great, guarding well and making it tough for them to score. Then we had a lull in intensity in the second quarter that led to an increase in their intensity,” PA coach Troy Carnes said. “We gave up 22 points in that quarter, and that is not acceptable.
“I thought we picked it back up after that. Give Washington credit because it played real hard without two of its starters.”
The Mustangs led 39-33 at the end of the third after allowing just four points in the quarter.
Pillow improves to 5-1 overall, 2-0 in the North AAA Division I standings.
Tyler McKay, Maury Sykes and Pannell hit early buckets to put PA up 6-0. Peyton O’Dell drained a 3-pointer for an 11-3 advantage, and younger brother, Brantley O’Dell, scored five straight to push Pillow’s lead to 16-3.
Brantley O’Dell, a sophomore, finished with nine points.
The PA girls had no problem with the Lady Generals, winning 55-29 to improve to 10-0, 2-0 in league play.
Junior Merritt Belk led the way with 16 points and five steals, while senior Avery Alderman added 12 points.
PA led 17-10 at the end of the first and 36-20 at the half and only allowed nine points for Washington the rest of the way.
Pillow plays East Rankin Thursday in the Madison-Ridgeland Academy Tournament.
In junior high action, the PA boys won 57-18 to move to 2-2. John Madison Brooks and Will Jennings had 10 points each, followed by Sam Henry Farmer with nine.
The PA ninth-grade girls won 32-19 to improve to 4-0.
Callie Lane Lyon paced Pillow with 10 points.
