CARY — With a capacity crowd of approximately 2,600 fans looking on, No. 1 Panther Creek didn't disappoint the Catamount faithful on Friday, as it stayed perfect in conference play with a 60-48 win over No. 10 Middle Creek.

Defense was the name of the game on this night, as the Catamounts used what coach L.J. Hepp called a "junk defense" to slow down the Mustangs' 1-2 scoring punch of Garrius Adams and Tom Tankelewicz.

Adams, who was averaging 22.4 points per game, had just 11 on 5-of-13 shooting and was 0-for-4 on his 3-point attemps. Tankelewicz was held to just five points after averaging 19.2 per game and hit just 1-of-7 from beyond the arc.

Both guys struggled against the Catamounts' triangle-and-two defense as Hepp rotated six defenders on the pair of Mustangs.

"We played the same defense the entire game except for maybe one possession. I'm not a big fan of junk defenses ... but our kids really bought in defensively and they know that can win games," Hepp said. "It's critical [to limit Adams and Tankelewicz's point production] with that team because such a high percentage of their points come from Garrius and Tom."

It's nothing out of the ordinary for this year's Panther Creek team, which has consistently taken out their opponents' top player.

Against Enloe, Division I recruit Melvin Tabb had just four points in a loss to the Catamounts. Knightdale's Stan Okoye has over 1,000 points in his career, but scored just six in his game against Panther Creek (16-1, 7-0).

And last week, a diamond-and-one defense held Athens Drive's Josh Davis to his lowest point total of the year with 14.

"We hadn't seen a lot of triangle-and-two until last week [against Lee County] and I expect to see a lot of it the rest of the year," Middle Creek coach David Kushner said. "[Panther Creek] ran that phenomenally, their kids were after Tom and Garrius the whole game and we just didn't compete as hard as we should've."

Garrett Leatham led the Mustangs with 13 points on the night. It was the first time all year long that someone outside of Adams or Tankelewicz had led Middle Creek (14-3, 6-1) in scoring.

"When Garrius and Tom aren't hitting, we've had other games and other kids who have stepped up and I told them yesterday that had to happen today and unfortunately it didn't," Kushner said.

The Catamounts' Earnest Ross scored well below his 20.6 points per game average with six, but did have five assists on the night.

Picking up the slack for Ross were starters Marques Oliver, who had 24 points on 9-of-12 shooting, and Aaron Toney, who added 12 points while going 6-of-10 from the field. Mike Hood went 3-of-4 from 3-point range for nine points off the bench.

As a team, the Catamounts shot 57 percent from the field, while holding the Mustangs to 43 percent.

"When it's not my night as it was tonight, scoring-wise, it's big for other guys to come up like that. I can't always do the work so I'm glad to have those guys around me and play with those guys," Ross said. "It's all about my team."

Middle Creek's only lead in the game came for a brief period in the first quarter, when the 'Stangs led 8-6. However, the Catamounts closed out the quarter with a 16-12 lead.

At half, Toney and Oliver had 22 of their team's 29 points, and led by seven after a buzzer-beating 25-footer from Middle Creek's Stephen McAllister made it 29-22 at half.

With his future coach at Miami, Frank Haith, watching from the stands, Adams had just two points at halftime.

"It seemed like anytime we had a chance to cut it to five or six, that big three would rim in-and-out or we would miss the rebound," Kushner said. "We just missed that big play and I think that big play needed to happen on defense."

Tankelewicz was shutout from scoring in the second half, while Adams added seven in the third yet his team trailed by 10, 44-34.

Little-used Robbie Wilder led all Mustang scorers in the fourth, as Panther Creek led by as much as 19. The more the Mustangs shot, the more they missed, connecting on just 18 percent of their 3-point attempts.

"One game is not going to end our season," Kushner said. "We're going to see these guys again and hopefully we learned from our mistakes."

Both teams will go start up the second half of the conference schedule this Friday. The next time these two meet will renew the "Battle of the Creeks" will be on Feb. 13 for the final regular-season game of the year.

If that atmosphere is anything like the one experienced at Panther Creek on Friday, it would be another treat for all involved.

"There are Division I college atmospheres in our state that aren't as electric and don't have the energy that was in the building tonight. You've got a couple thousand people in there, you've got fans from both sides. It was packed, you've got the band in there," Hepp said. "Honestly, I'd like to see a better high school atmosphere than what was in there. It was just a treat."

Ross added that it was a game he wouldn't soon forget.

"It was a wonderful feeling. It's something we can tell our kids or grandkids," Ross said. "It's a time you can live for."