The No. 1 seed and defending tournament champion Jemison Panthers saw their first action of the tournament Thursday night, taking on the Maplesville Red Devils in Round 2 of the varsity boys county tournament.

The Panthers now have the opportunity to defend that crown after a 64-51 victory over the Red Devils.

In a game that was back and forth all night, the Red Devils got the jump on the Panthers (15-5, 3-1), running to a 10-2 start to the first quarter.

The early Maplesville lead wouldn’t hold and would dwindle to just three by the end of the first period, 16-13. Maplesville (5-7, 0-5) would see their lead dwindle away completely midway through the second, and the Panthers would go to the break up by one, 26-25.

Cade Hatch and B.J. Kornegay lead a Panther surge from behind the three-point arc, while Jacob Hatch did the scoring in the paint in the third period, leading to a Panther 44-37 lead at the end of the third period.

Despite a give-all effort by Maplesville led by Anthony Johnson, the Panthers were able to put away the Red Devils in the fourth period and advance to the next round. Johnson led all scorers for Maplesville with 22 points, seven rebounds and four steals.

Hatch led the way for Jemison with 18 points (including eight of 11 from the free-throw line), 11 rebounds, three steals and a block.

The Panthers advanced to the championship game Saturday at 7 p.m., where they will face the winner of the Chilton County-Thorsby game.