Malcolm Bennett
Staff Writer

After 18 days and 18 nights of non-stop basketball, the NCAA Tournament has crowned the champs of the South and Midwest. These two teams will be dueling it out to see who will be the undisputed champion on April 6.
Coming out of the Midwest will be the  Detroit’s very own (30-6) Michigan State, who surprised numerous experts and maybe the whole country in beating the number one seeded (31-4) Connecticut Huskies in the Final Four last Saturday (82-73).

Coming out of the South Region will be everyone’s favorite, the North Carolina Tar Heels. Everyone knew the team returning five starters from last year would make it to the National Championship, so it came as no surprise as they beat the number three seeded Villanova (83-69) Saturday in the Final Four.

Malcolm Bennett
Staff Writer

It’s that time of the year when March is ending and the madness is beginning, as the Elite 8 shapes up, where 8 of the top teams in the nation battle it out on hardwood court to see who becomes king.

Of the four games played yesterday, half the top seeded teams won and claimed a spot in the Final Four.

(1) U Conn– (5) Purdue (72-60)

(4) Xavier vs. (1) Pittsburgh (55-60)

(3) Missouri vs. (2) Memphis (102-91)

(3) Villanova vs. (2) Duke (77-54)

Today,  the top teams from the South and Midwest division will go head to head, to get a chance to play the winners of the East and West Divisions in the Final Four.

(12) Arizona vs. (1)Louisville
7:07 PM

(3) Syracuse vs. (2) Oklahoma
7:27 PM

(3) Kansas vs. (2) Michigan St
9:37 PM

(4) Gonzaga vs. (1) North Carolina
9:57 PM

Malcolm Bennett
Staff Writer

After a bumpy season, the boys basketball team finally reached one of their goals, which was to reach the playoffs, as they take on the Tomball Cougars Tuesday night.
Now that they’re there, The Pack knows there’s still more work ahead of them as they are looking to be the first team in several years to advance to the second round.

“It would mean a whole lot to make it past the first round,” Christian Lenior said.

Even though it would be sweet to make it past the first round, the Panthers believe it will be sweeter to  beat the team that ended their playoff aspirations last year with a 82-74 victory in overtime.

“It hurt to watch our dreams just go down the drain like that ,” DeUndre Brown said.

And to make sure that does not happen the Panthers are looking for help from their JV team and a more fun and easy going practices.

“It has been fun but we need to get better every practice,” said Wendell Smith.

After all the ups and downs, the Pack is looking to shut all the “haters” up Tuesday night.

The first half of district is set and done, rounding out with the College Park Caveliars dominating everything that got in their way with an 5-0 record beating their oppenent by an average of 16.2 points per game.

In second is the 4-1 Woodland Highlanders building off veteren leadership from last season. Third are the 3-2 Conroe Tigers  “shooting” their way up the “playoff line”. Rounding out the “playoff line,” in fourth place are your very own Lufkin Panthers standing at 2-3 who has been fighting an uphill battle all year but have been showing signs of improvment.

From the outside looking in, are the 1-4 Oak Ridge War Eagles and the 0-5 New Caney Eagles.

The Lady Pack is on fire this season with a 13-2 record and ranked 40th in the state and now they have become one the hottest teams in East Texas.
The girls team has improved so much that fans can’t wait to watch them play ”This is one of the best teams in Lufkin so far as long as I been here” One of the fans said.
The girls are a very special and talented team that care about each other as a whole.
“ The team plays as if there sisters and there also team players”,”When they play they look to get the ball to the open players and try to contribute in any way” a parent explains.
The coach as well as the fans are enjoying every minute of the girls play on the court at all levels including JV and freshman.
“I feel that the girls are working hard and playing together which has made them so dominate this season.” the head coach says.
”I like the girls alot their very aggressive and play with togetherness which keeps them strong”. One of the parents reply.
The girls are entering district and the team as well as the coaches are feeling good about themselves. The lady Pack mind is set on winning the district title and then going to the playoffs and hopefully the state tournament. But starting district the team have some players who have cought coaches eye and are really coming along and than should strengthen the team.
They started district off with a lost a good match up game to the Woodlands 56-47.
“We just need to connate to work hard and play at a high level so we understand what we have to do to win next time around” the head coach says.
The lady Pack came out on their second game of district play and really showed that they want to win district by beating the Oak Ridge War Eagles 47-26 by playing hard on defense to cause them to turnover the ball that gave them easy

Panthers lost season’s first game Tuesday night.

Breaking the tie in the last few seconds, Marvis Dunbar put the last two points on the scoreboard giving the Huntsville Hornets an 87-85 win.

Huntsville’s biggest scorers were Justin Ennis(36) and Jeremy LaDay(22).

Although the Panthers lost they put up a good fight in each quarter, even taking the lead in some.

In the fourth quarter the score was 85-82, until Wendell Smith and Byron Davis contributed free throws to tie the game 85-85.

Huntsville ended up with the ball and stalled time before Dunbar made the winning shot.

Other players for the pack that contributed points were DeKendrick Henry(4), DeUndre Brown(8), DeVonte Turner(7), Jeron Williams(9), and Christian Lenoir(9).

You can watch the Panthers play at 7:30 Friday night at the Panther Gym.