Though the Georgiana Panthers made it to the final round in the annual Knights of Columbus Basketball Tournament Saturday, they couldn’t overcome host Montgomery-Catholic and ended the tournament in second place.

The Panthers jumped on Marbury in the first round, with Adrian Paige contributing 14 points and Rodney Cheatham sinking 11 points for the 52 – 42 victory.

The win pitted the Panthers against host Montgomery-Catholic Knights for Saturday championship. Kirk Norris, head coach for the Panthers, said it was a close game.

“It was a two point game a half, and we were only down 5 to start the fourth,” Norris said. “With two minutes left, we had cut the lead to 4, but we started fouling and they made all their free-throws.”

Despite the loss, the Panthers had three players who broke into double-digit scoring. Paige led the pack again, with 22 points, followed by Adrian Rich with 15 and Ricky Everett with 11.

Norris said he is still trying to get a feel for his team and figure out what their team identity is.

“Our kids played hard, but trying to beat the host team in their own gym is a hard thing to do,” Norris said. “We missed several lay-ups and just have some fundamentals that need correcting before we can really get clicking.”