By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor

KIMBERLY – For the third time in as many games the Mortimer Jordan Blue Devils were taking on a Shelby County team on their home court as they hosted the Pelham Panthers on Tuesday, Nov. 28.

Mortimer Jordan had gone 0-2 in the previous two matchups, both against Oak Mountain, but was able to hang on down the stretch for a thrilling 61-56 win over the Panthers.

The Panthers, now 3-3 on the season, didn’t play poorly whatsoever on the offensive side of things and came out hot in the first quarter.

Pelham was able to post 17 points in the opening quarter behind nine points from Justin Allison, who hit three 3-pointers, and six points from Chris Brown.

The problem seemed to be the defensive effort as they gave up 17 points in the first as well to create a tie heading to the second quarter.

Both teams stepped up the defensive play in the second period as they combined for just 19 points compared to the 34 they put up in the opening frame.

It led to Pelham outscoring the Blue Devils 10-9 in the quarter to take a 27-26 lead into halftime. Brown had six more points in the quarter to give him 12 of his 19 points in the first half.

While Pelham was holding its own and had the one-point lead, the third quarter was the difference in the ball game.

The two battled to a 33-33 tie early in the quarter, before Mortimer Jordan went on 16-6 run to close out the quarter and take the largest lead of the game by any team at 49-39.

The Panthers came out in the final quarter and gave every bit of fight they had left and it led to them starting the frame on a 6-0 run to cut the lead to just five points at 49-45.

Pelham eventually extended that run to 10-3 as they got within three points at 52-49 with 3:06 left on the clock. After falling behind 54-49, two free throws by Jacob Shumate and a layup by Grayson Dill brought the Panthers within one with 1:51 left to play.

The Blue Devils, however, were able to answer the Pelham run with a dagger 3-pointer with 1:20 left to extend its lead to 57-53. They went on to knock down free throws in the final minute to hold on for the 61-56 win.

Allison ended the night as the leading scorer with 25 points, while adding three rebounds, one assist and one steal. Brown posted an additional 19 points with 13 rebounds for a double-double effort.