Panther Valley and Weatherly fans were treated to a back-and-forth battle Tuesday night that left the outcome undecided until the Panthers eventually pulled out a 56-53 win.

Like two prize fighters, the two teams traded blows at the start of the fourth quarter.

Weatherly held a one-point lead (42-41) after three frames, but PV’s Chase Weaver drilled a three-pointer from the top of the key to open the fourth and give his team a 44-42 edge. The Wreckers’ Jayden Eubanks, also wearing uniform No. 1 like Weaver, answered with a long three to put the Wreckers ahead with seven minutes remaining in the game.

Weaver followed suit with another three and, after a Weatherly turnover, did it again for a five-point margin. The Wreckers, however, were not about to call it a night yet.

Timmy Maguschak sank two free throws and, off a steal, Eubanks scored on a full-court layup to make it a one-point deficit at 50-49.

The Panthers regained their five-point advantage at 54-49 after Austin Hadley’s putback and Stephen Hood’s layup.

But with 1:41 left in the game, the Wreckers’ Frankie Willis - who led all scorers with 25 points - drove the lane for a basket to cut the margin to three. His steal and layup then made it a one-point game again with 1:09 left.

Panther Valley ran off some clock until Weaver was fouled, and he promptly sank both ends of a one-and-one to finish the scoring and give his team the victory.

The Panthers took an early 12-6 lead on two free throws by Michael Pascoe, and earned their biggest lead at 15-6 on a three-pointer by Weaver with 1:35 to go in the first period. Weatherly then went on an 11-0 run into the second period that featured two threes by Willis, and one by Maguschak.

The teams traded leads until JoJo Hoffman drilled a baseline three for a Wrecker two-point advantage, but Stephen Hood’s side jumper knotted the score at 24 going into the intermission.

“In the first half, we weren’t getting movement off the ball and attacking the gaps in their zone,” said Panther Valley coach Pat Crampsie. “On defense, we sat back too much and didn’t contest their shots, so we decided to go man-to-man in the second half.”

Weatherly mentor Corey Gerhart said he had “no idea” how his team would play in what was its first game of the season.

“I thought we battled their bigs down low pretty well, and I liked how we played with a lot of intensity,” said Gerhart.

The third quarter saw eight lead changes and to ties. Eubanks dropped a three to give Weatherly a 42-39 lead, but Pascoe’s basket ended the period with the Panthers trailing by one.

The stage was set for an exciting finish, and the Wreckers had the ball with five seconds left, but an inbounds pass was turned over and the Panthers held on to win.

“We really hung tough, and we only have a nine-man varsity roster,” said Gerhart. “It’s a good thing two of our players are cross country runners, which helped their endurance. We need to have more patience with our shot selection, and get more offensive rebounds. That might have made the difference in this game.”

Crampsie liked the adjustments his team made in the second half, but he sees room for improvement after its second game of the season.

“We did better attacking the gaps in the second half, and Weaver was outstanding running our offense down the stretch and knocking down those threes and the two free throws at the end,” said Crampsie. “Give credit to Weatherly. I thought they played with more passion and intensity than we did.”

BLOCK KNOCKERS ... Several times in the first half, Weatherly blocked inside shots by PV so hard, they knocked the balls out of bounds.

BOMBS AWAY ... In the JV game, won by PV 75-38, the Panthers were red hot from three-point range, sinking 14 from downtown to account for 56% of their total points.

UP NEXT ... Panther Valley travels to Blue Mountain on Thursday, while Weatherly also plays Thursday at Nativity.

PANTHER VALLEY

Weaver 6-2-2-19, S. Hood 8-3-4-19, Kokinda 3-0-1-9, Pascoe 2-2-2-6, Hadley 0-3-4-3, B. Hood 0-0-0-0, Jones 0-0-0-0, Kindt 0-0-0-0, Turner 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 19-10-13-56.

WEATHERLY

Willis 7-4-4-25, Eubanks 6-0-0-14, Ray 3-0-1-6, Maguschak 1-2-2-5, Hoffman 1-0-0-3, McLauran-0-0-0-0, Mitchell-0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 19-6-7-53.

Panther Vy. 15 9 17 15 - 56

Weatherly 11 13 18 11 - 53

Three-pointers: Panther Valley - Weaver 5, Kokinda 3; Weatherly - Willis 5, Eubanks 2, Maguschak 1, Hoffman 1.