In a league that sees Sarnia teams slowly emerge as favorites to win the local high school basketball championship, the John McGregor Panthers are looking to stay in the mix.
In the final week before Christmas holidays, the Panthers beat their Chatham counterpart CKSS 61-41. They also hung around with the first place Northern Vikings, eventually falling 62-53.
Head Coach Blake Handsor says there will always be a couple different top scorers for their team on any given night, but forward Tyson Brown is the leader.
"He's probably put on an inch or two since last year, but has also filled out physically. That makes him able to go into spaces he couldn't last year and come up with the ball or finish. And his skill of course has also improved."
Handsor has mixed things up this year, going with a motion-heavy offence. It's a combination of moving the ball itself, but also generating cuts and motion when players don't have the rock. Handsor says when you do that at this level, opposing teams will eventually get tired.
"One or two passes is easy to guard. Especially if you're running set plays, it's not easy to scout that and then learn how to defend that. It's really hard to guard a team that's just out there playing basketball, as long as they have the skill to do so."
McGregor currently sits second in the LKSSAA Senior Boys Basketball standings, with a record of 3-2.