Panther Creek downs Cleveland to advance to 4A title game, 68-54

The Panther Creek Catamounts are moving on to the 4A state championship game after a 68-54 win over the Cleveland Rams in Cary on Saturday night.

The game opened at a slow pace, as both teams both struggled with shotmaking and played tough defense against the other.

The Catamounts took a quick lead, but the Rams went ahead in the early going and after the first quarter thanks in part to a pair of three-pointers by Baron Williams.

Panther Creek had the better of the second quarter enough to take a 22-20 lead into the halftime break as David Tator scored the final bucket of the half to give his team a two-point lead.

Both teams picked up the pace offensively in the third quarter, and the Catamounts were the beneficiaries of that as they grew their lead to four in the final seconds and got a last-second score off of an inbound play by Tyler Thompson to make it a six-point game heading into the all-important fourth quarter.

Panther Creek took much of the intrigue out of the quarter right off the hop with a quick 6-0 run to double its lead to 12.

The Catamounts kept scoring and went ahead by as many as 17 points before Cleveland chipped away at the end with a pair of made threes in the final minutes.

Panther Creek will square off against reigning 3A champion Weddington in the title game on Saturday after the Warriors defeated North Mecklenburg earlier Saturday in the Western regional final.

Cleveland's season comes to an end with a record of 30-2. The Greater Neuse conference champions defeated Garner, Holly Springs, D.H. Conley and top-seeded Richmond to earn their spot in the regional final.