Panama's Jordan Mescall guards Avoca/Prattsburgh's Evan Campbell in the Class D Far West Regional at Rush-Henrietta High School on Saturday. P-J photo by Christian Storms

HENRIETTA — The Titans is a fitting mascot for Avoca/Prattsburgh as it continues to show that’s what it is in Class D boys basketball in New York State.

After claiming the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class D Championship a year ago, Avoca/Prattsburgh is hungry for another title – and it showed it on Saturday in the Far West Regional against Section VI champion Panama. The Titans dominated every facet of the game, cruising to a 67-35 victory over the Panama Panthers at Rush-Henrietta High School.

“They’re better than advertised,” Panama head coach Ed Nelson said about the Titans. “I’ve seen a lot of tape on them, knew what they did last year. They get in transition really well, get to the hoop well, there are not a lot of weaknesses on their basketball team.”

Despite the lopsided loss, there are many positives Panama can take away from in an unexpected berth to the Class D Far West Regional.

“I didn’t know,” Nelson said how he thought their season would fare after leading scorer Carter Brink’s injury. “If you look at us on paper, we can’t hold a candle to that team right there. But one thing our team has is a lot of grit and we compete. I’ve got a lot of football guys on my team, and they don’t know anything but competing. We’re one of the most mentally tough teams that I’ve coached since getting here.”

Losing its leading scorer hurt the Panthers in many ways, but didn’t stop them from winning a sectional title. However, if there was a night they could have used Brink’s offense, it was Saturday against No. 1 Avoca/Prattsburgh.

While Brink missed the back half of the season, he and every Panther besides lone senior Gabe Roth should be back in the fold next year. The loss to the Titans can now prove to be a learning experience for the returning underclassmen.

“I’ve got such a young team that we want to be back here in the future,” Nelson said about his squad. “We kind of took it, soaked it all in and we kind of used that experience to know what kind of basketball team we want to emulate. We saw what we’ve got to do to get to that level.”

Roth ended his career with an appearance in the Far West Regional. The elder statesman of a young crop potted two steals in the effort.

“After that 2018-19 year our team had struggles,” Nelson said. “Our team had trouble getting wins, putting balls in the bucket and Gabe was there for that. Three years ago I promised him we were going to get through that and send him out on top and beating Clymer last week, I couldn’t be more happy for him.”

Even when falling behind, Panama’s effort didn’t falter – it just was outplayed by a stronger Avoca/Prattsburgh. Standing out was sophomore Bryce Hinsdale, who has been a fixture in creating offense all season. He finished with a team-high 16 points and three assists.

“We play good complimentary basketball with each other,” Nelson said about his group. “Bryce ended up being our high scorer tonight, but we’re really balanced. With Carter back, he’s a guy that can get to the hoop and put some points on the board for us. We haven’t been a team all year that is putting points on the board, we battle to score 50 and kind of hang our head on our defense.”

After building leads of 40 points, the Titans finished with a 67-35 victory and will now play Section III’s Hamilton in the state semifinals at Glens Falls this upcoming weekend.

PANAMA (35)

Roth 2 0 4, Hinsdale 6 0 16, Keefe 1 0 3, Catanese 1 0 2, Graves 0 0 0, Horton 0 0 0, Mescall 4 0 10, Barmore 0 0 0, Vicente 0 0 0. Totals 14 0 35.

AVOCA/PRATTSBURGH (67)

DeVoe 10 0 21, Campbell 2 0 4, Abbott 6 3 18, MPutnam 3 1 8, Crowder 3 1 10, Stilson 1 0 2, DPutnam 1 0 2, Hammond 1 0 2. Totals 27 5 67.

3-point goals–Hinsdale 4, Keefe, Mescall 2, DeVoe, MPutnam, Abbott 3, Crowder 3.

Panama 7 5 5 18 — 35

Avoca/Prattsburgh 22 16 19 10 — 67