Emmanuel hands Panthers fourth straight loss
Jan. 24, 2008

Emmanuel College handed LaGrange College its fourth straight loss, beating the Panthers 86-72 on Thursday at Mariotti Gym. The non-conference loss dropped the Panthers to 4-14 on the season. Emmanuel improved to 9-10.

LaGrange got a game-high double-double from Demetris Render. Render had 21 points and 10 rebounds in the game. He was 6-for-11 from the floor and hit 9-of-10 free throws. Caleb Smallwood had 10 points and Joe Cromwell added 10 more.

Emmanuel was led by Ray Raines' 17 points and eight rebounds. Tedrick Hudson followed Raines with 15 points and Jeremy Tate had 12.

The Lions shot 60.4 percent from the floor in the game. They held the Panthers to 38.6 percent shooting. The Lions shot 64.3 percent in the first half.

The Panthers led briefly at the start of the game. A basket from Cromwell and a 3-pointer from Roger McDowell gave the Panthers a quick 5-0 lead. But over the next seven minutes, the Lions outscored the Panthers 16-2 to take the lead for good in the game.

The Panthers got within five points on five different occasions the rest of the first half. The last came after an 8-0 run by the Panthers. Smallwood scored the last five points to cut Emmanuel's lead to 32-27 with 4:39 left in the half. The Lions responded by outscoring the Panthers 14-3 the rest of the way for a 46-30 halftime lead.

Emmanuel continued to build on its lead in the second half. The Lions took their largest lead, 65-39, after a 3-pointer from Ronny Weihmann with 12 minutes remaining. Emmanuel led 71-46 with five minutes remaining when the Panthers started cutting the deficit.

Over a four-minute span, the Panthers trimmed the Lions' lead to 13. Cromwell's free throw made it 80-67. The Panthers got within nine, 81-72, when Smallwood hit a 3-pointer with 57 seconds left. But Emmanuel put the game away from there. Raines' dunk with 12 seconds left and two free throws from Hudson finished the scoring.

The Panthers close out their four-game home stand Saturday against GSAC-foe Piedmont College. Game time is 4 p.m.