The breakdown: Lebanon crushes Portland for region tourney berth

Lebanon wanted to get off to a fast start in its District 9-AAA Tournament opener against Portland on Friday evening.

The tournament host Blue Devils picked up where they left off during the regular season in a couple of ways, as Lebanon won 10 of its last 11 contests including a 63-32 rout of visiting Portland a week ago.

Meeting again for the third time yielded the same results as the first two wins, which were both by 30-plus points, as Lebanon had little trouble in a 68-21 victory.

Breakdown of Friday’s game:

Records: Portland 4-23, Lebanon 20-7

Tonight’s takeaways: Lebanon used its superior size to knock down passing lanes for the Panthers, as Portland found little room to work the ball in its half-court offense, causing numerous turnovers.

Portland finished its 13th consecutive losing season since the program finished 20-13 and lost in a substate matchup against McMinn Central in 2004.

First-year coach Josh Epperson did pick help his program snap a 25-game district losing streak when his Panthers defeated Hendersonville 50-44 on Jan. 31. Unfortunately, Portland finished the season losing 14 of its last 15 contests.

Defining moment: The game’s biggest moment came when the game started as Lebanon opened up the contest on a 24-2 run.

Six different Blue Devils scored during the opening frenzy that saw Portland fall behind quickly. Finally, a 3-pointer from Bryce Keith halted the Lebanon run, albeit only momentarily.

Lebanon forward Eddie Jackson scored all of his game-high 12 points during the first 10 minutes of the game as the Blue Devils rolled to the win.

Leading scorers: Portland: Grant Cook 5, Mitchell Eagle 3, Quintin Fowler 3, Keith 3. Lebanon: Jackson 12, Noah Mulaski 10, David Cavile 9, Cameron Oliver 9.

What he said: “Focus for us is to exceed our goals that we set in the regular season,” Jackson said. “We set our goals to win districts and go to region, but we want to go through the post season by playing all our games here at home (Region 5-AAA is also at Lebanon) and for us to get all the way to state. Everybody is really focused and its the post season so we’re really locked in.”

Next up: Lebanon faces Beech in Saturday’s semifinals at 8:30 p.m., while Portland is eliminated with the loss.