RALEIGH — With second place in the Tri-Eight on the line Friday, emotions flared and words were exchanged in a heated battle between Panther Creek and Athens Drive. But the Catamounts were able to overcome those obstacles and prevail 65-61.

The Catamounts avenged a three-point loss to the Jaguars earlier this season, returning the favor on the road. More importantly, they clinched at least a second-place finish in the Tri-Eight.

“Second place is big in terms of our playoff seeding for the state tournament,” Panther Creek coach L.J. Hepp said. “If we can hang on to that second seed, I think we get a first-round home game, which is nice to have. There’s no question it’s huge.”

The first quarter looked more like a Suns-Warriors matchup than a high school basketball game, with both teams running the floor and rarely missing. Panther Creek took a 25-21 edge at the end of the first quarter. Athens gained the lead in the second quarter and went into the half leading 39-38, behind the hot shooting of Quentin Edmundson.

Hepp said Athens’ 3-point shooting forced him to adjust his zone defense at the half, which proved effective.

“The first half we came out in zone, and they hit seven 3s in the first half of this game,” Hepp said. “We felt as a coaching staff that they weren’t going to be able to duplicate that in the second half, and by our count they made two. We actually switched our zones up.”

The second half was a physical battle that eventually got the best of both teams’ emotions. Panther Creek’s Earnest Ross and Athens forward Josh Davis were doing a lot of talking to one another and to the officials and received warnings before Ross was called for a technical foul after the buzzer sounded to end the third quarter.

But not long into the fourth, Athens was hit with a technical of its own, as Edmundson used some choice words with an official after being called for a personal foul. That technical was costly, Athens coach Robert Clemons said.

“The technical hurt us,” Clemons said. “We kind of lost our cool. They got the technical and we should have jumped on them, but we let them get back in it, especially when we got the technical and they got four free throws.”

Aside from the technicals, Panther Creek did a good job of holding onto its small lead and sealing the game from the free-throw line.

“We just didn’t make some plays down the stretch,” Clemons said. “Defensively I don’t think we played as well as we could have, and offensively we just didn’t make the plays.”

Athens did do a good job on Ross defensively, holding him to just five points. But the Catamounts consistently found junior Marques Oliver in the post, who had a career-high 24 points.

“We had a matchup we felt we could exploit in the post with Marques, and he played a great game,” Hepp said. “Earnest probably had his career low, but we had other guys step up and play well.”

Oliver said he was confident going into the game that the Catamounts would avenge the loss earlier in the season if it played together and worked hard. He attributed his scoring performance to the attention Ross drew on the offensive end.

“They had Josh [Davis] on Earnest. They didn’t have anyone that could guard me,” Oliver said.

Though the loss knocks Athens out of second place, Clemons said he is confident of his team’s potential to make a run.

“We have the people to make a run in the playoffs,” Clemons said. “But it’s a learning experience. If we learn from this game and don’t make the same mistakes, we can make a run in the playoffs.”

Hepp agreed that both teams learned a good lesson in controlling emotions in big-game situations.

“In a game like this, with so much on the line, kids get emotions,” Hepp said. “That’s something we talk about a lot, but it’s a learning opportunity for both teams.”