WAKE FOREST - Taking care of the ball and making free throws are fundamental elements of basketball that teams practice on a regular basis. Heritage coach Pat Kennedy admitted Wednesday night that his team has a lot of work to do in both areas after visiting Panther Creek’s 70-51 win.

Heritage committed nearly 30 turnovers and went 11-for-25 from the free-throw line.

“If you’re going to lose the turnover battle and you’re going to lose at the free-throw line,” Kennedy said, “you’re going to lose a lot of games.”

For Panther Creek coach Mark Adams, the game’s outcome was decided primarily by his team’s defense rather than Heritage’s miscues.

“I thought our kids played with a lot of energy and passion,” Adams said. “I think our press was effective and our defense led to some transition and some easy scoring.”

One such case came at the end of the first half. Already trailing by nine with less than two minutes left in the half, Heritage (3-8) turned the ball over three consecutive times in their own backcourt, which led to three Panther Creek layups and allowing the Catamounts to take a 33-20 lead at halftime.

Kennedy said that it was not just the number of turnovers that hurt his team – it was the type of turnovers.

“In basketball, there are two types of turnovers: live turnovers and dead-ball turnovers,” he said. ”We’re turning the ball over which is allowing teams to get easy baskets and that hurts. When you have possession and you hand it over to the other team and allow them to score easily, it makes it hard to win.”

Matt Williams led Panther Creek with 18 points and Holland Gallagher added 15 points.

In all, nine players scored for Panther Creek (7-4), a statistic that was not lost on Adams. With nearly half of the season gone by, Adams said he can see his team starting to come together.

“We’re 11 games into the season now, and we’re starting to jell,” he said. “We’re starting to pass the ball better and know what our roles are. We have good balance offensively.”

Both teams took a short holiday break before participating in tournaments this week. Panther Adams is hoping the win will provide some momentum for the team as it prepares for conference play in the Tri-Nine 4-A after the holidays.

“We’re a work in progress,” Adams said, “but this type of win going into the holidays is a good feeling for your team.”

As for Kennedy, he’s hoping the time off will sharpen his team’s performance.

“We’re going to give them a couple of days off,” he said. “We need to take a breath of fresh air and refocus.”