Stocked with seven seniors, the boys’ varsity basketball team expected to return to the state playoffs. However, it was not meant to be as the team finished the season 7-17 and in fourth place in Region 4B-AAAAA.

“I believe the biggest reason we couldn’t return to the state playoffs was we couldn’t take care of the ball,” coach Brandon Hutchins said of his Panthers, who averaged almost 18 turnovers per game. “You can’t have 20 turnovers and expect to beat people. Last year, we had very good guard play and valued the basketball. This year, we just couldn’t get it done.”

Leading scorer and senior forward Jeremiah Vrudny agreed. “We turned the ball over way too much. But ‘what if’ is a question we can’t afford to ask ourselves.  We’ve just got to accept things and learn from the outcome.” Vrudny, named to the All-Region First Team, signed a scholarship last November to play basketball at Georgia State in the fall.

In the region tournament, turnovers again played a big role as the Panthers fell to Mt. Zion 52-49 in overtime. “They made shots when they needed to and they forced us to make turnovers,” Hutchins said. “We couldn’t take care of the ball, and that hurt us all year. They are a scrappy team and their pressure bothered us both times we played them.”  Vrudny, who had 22 points and five rebounds, led the Panthers in scoring.

Senior Evan Woods was reflective after the season-ending loss. “I’m not really sure what I’m going to do after school now that we don’t have practice every day,” he said. “It was a fun season, but it’s no fun to see it end this way.”

While the Panthers did not come away with a win in the majority of their games, they netted a key victory in an away game against rival McIntosh, 66-63.

“When you play McIntosh, you don’t have to get the guys hyped up any more than they already are. As a coach, you are trying to actually calm them down so they aren’t worn out before the game starts,” Hutchins said. The Panther defense was able to stifle the McIntosh offense as the Chiefs managed 18 field goals on 62 attempts.

Senior Ryan Avidano praised his defense. “I’d say we played pretty good. We didn’t let them get good, open shots,” he said.

Vrudny recorded a game-high 29 points with 13 of them coming in the fourth quarter. He finished the game going 11-of-16 from the field with 9 rebounds. “That was a fun game to play in. I’m really happy we were able to win,” he said.

In the rematch against McIntosh a few weeks later, this time on the Panthers’ home court on senior night, the atmosphere was just as intense as their last meeting. The teams constantly traded the lead all the way to the final buzzer in a close game. With 12 seconds left, Vrudny was fouled from behind on a fast break with the Panthers up 52-51, but he missed the shot. He made 1-of-2 free throws to put the Panthers up 53-51. Jordan Lyons, a sophomore starting guard for McIntosh, calmly dribbled the ball up the court and watched the clock tick down. With five seconds left in the game, Panther senior guard Cameron Cushing put extra pressure on Lyons, who struggled to get around him. Lyons then shot a long three pointer over Cushing that banked in to give the Chiefs the lead with 0.9 seconds left in the game.

“Lyons is a really good player,” senior Panther guard and forward David Watson said. “You can’t put enough defense on him sometimes.”

Overall, the season did not go the way the players envisioned it. “I was really hoping we could make that trip back to the playoffs, but I guess it just wasn’t our year,” Vrudny said.