PORTSMOUTH - The Portsmouth Clay Panthers were the kings of the Southern Ohio Conference.

Evidently, someone forgot to tell the Green Bobcats.

Clay finished as SOC champions with an 11-1 record, but only after surviving the Green Bobcats 65-58 in double overtime Saturday night.

"We're getting a little better, but we still have some things to work on," Green coach Kevin Sheridan said. "We didn't do a very good job of executing in the two overtimes and we showed no patience."

John Dawson and Adam Sparks combined for 10 points as Green went up 14-13 after the first quarter.

Brian Ramey scored 6 points and Derek Lewis 5 in the second quarter as the lead grew to 29-21 at the half.

Clay outscored Green 12-6 in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 35-33.

Jason Bester had 6 points in the fourth quarter, but Cam Thoroughman converted two foul shots with nine seconds left to tie the game at 50-50 at the end of regulation.

Ramey had 5 points in the first overtime and the game remained deadlocked at 57-57. But Thoroughman made some key foul shots in the second overtime to clinch the win.

Ramey led Green with 19 points Lewis and Sparks 11 each, and Bester added 10 points. Ramey hauled down 15 rebounds and Brad DeHart grabbed six.

Thoroughman led all scorers with 31 points including 14 of 19 from the field.

Chris Bihl added 12 points for Clay (17-3, 11-1).

Green faces Portsmouth East at 8 p.m. Friday at Lucasville Valley in the sectional semifinals.

Green141561571=58

Clay138121778=65

GREEN (12-8, 10-4):

C.J. Blevins 0 0 0-0 0, Dyer 0 0 0-0 0, Jason Bester 1 0 8-10 10, Derek Lewis 1 2 3-4 11, Nathan Patten 0 0 0-0 0, Adam Sparks 5 0 1-1 11, Brian Ramey 4 2 4-6 18, Brad DeHart 0 0 0-2 0, John Dawson 2 0 4-6 8. Totals: 17-36

(4-22)

20-32

58. Fouls: 28. Fouled out: Dawson, Ramey, Bester. Rebounds: 11-20=31 (Ramey 15, DeHart 6). Assists: 8 (Sparks 2, Lewis 2). Steals: 6 (Sparks 2, DeHart 2). Turnovers: 11.

PORTSMOUTH CLAY (17-3, 11-1):

Cam Thoroughman 7 1 14-19 31, Chris Bihl 6 0 0-2 12, Mike Thacker 0 1 0-1 3, Justin Craft 0 0 0-0 0, Ryan Cucore 3 0 1-2 7, Kent Robinson 1 0 2-4 4, Derek Webb 1 0 0-0 2, Doran Martin 2 0 0-0 4, Steve Pelphrey 0 0 2-4 2, Dan Franz 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 20

(2)

19-33

65. Fouls: 25. Fouled out: Martin, Robinson, Thacker.