Competing in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day CCAA Showcase at Jamestown Community College, the Golden Falcons faced quite the challenge in the Panama Panthers on Monday.

Falconer came out strong, but then Panama’s star Carter Brink heated up, eventually finishing with 35 points and two assists in the 60-36 victory for the Panthers.

“It was nice to see him do that,” Panama head coach Ed Nelson said. “Last time we were in this gym we played Randolph and struggled putting the ball in the hoop a little bit. It was nice to get in here and see that thing go through the hoop. We kind of struggled a bit in that first quarter, but when Carter’s rolling we’re rolling.”

While Brink and Panama finished with the last laugh, it was a big night for Falconer junior Roger Markham closing in on a career milestone, needing just 14 points to reach 1,000.

Falconer’s Zach Markham grabs a rebound in between Panama’s Alex Barmore (0) and Andrew Spiesman (13). Photo courtesy of Steve Garvey

Markham scored 7 points in the opening quarter and the Golden Falcons outscored the Panthers 14-8. It looked like he would reach the career benchmark before halftime, but the Panama defense really put Falconer to the test and Markham had to wait.

“The last couple of years we’ve been very delicate with our schedule to try and build confidence, but also keep competitive,” Falconer head coach Jordan Goold said. “But this year, straight from the top we said we’re getting every best team we could play, Randolph, Panama, School of the Arts up in Rochester. They all play different types of basketball, we wanted to play on the big court, so it’s been awesome.”

With the game slipping away from Falconer it did receive a boost in morale near the end of the third quarter when Markham saw his space and drove to the basket for a sweet layup to reach 1,000 points.

“The 1,000 points is an individual accolade, but it really represents a lot more than that,” Goold said. “Those 1,000 points came from his ninth-grade, 10th-, 11th-grade seasons and those 1,000 points gave Falconer their first home playoff game in 20 years, their first home playoff game win in 20 years and their first sectional championship in 42 years. So it’s a celebration of everything that we’ve done the last four to five years, so it’s much, much more to us than just an individual accolade and that was the big message tonight.”

Markham finished the game with a team-high 17 points and in the fourth quarter the rest of the Golden Falcons got a chance to test themselves.

Falconer’s Roger Markham is pictured with Golden Falcons head coach Jordan Goold after Markham scored his 1,000th career point during the final game of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day CCAA Showcase on Monday at Jamestown Community College. Photo courtesy of Steve Garvey

“We played last night, an awesome game up at SUNY Fredonia against the School of the Arts and I think they just lost their legs,” Goold said about Panama pulling away. “But really it all comes down to the Brink kid just playing awesome. We tried to make adjustments at halftime and adjusted to them and we ran out of adjustments for him.”

After the first quarter, the Panthers outscored Falconer 52-22, holding the Golden Falcons (8-6, 3-4 CCAA 1) to single-digit scoring in each of the final three periods.

The Panthers (8-1, 5-1 CCAA 2) received 12 rebounds, three assists and two blocks from Alex Barmore; Tate Catanese collected eight boards; Andrew Spiesman added six rebounds; and Jordan Mescall had three assists.

Panama will look to keep that momentum going tonight when it travels to Randolph, which knocked it out of the Class C playoffs a year ago at JCC and is currently ranked the No. 1 team in the state in its class.

“I’m sure it’s kind of a cliche, but every day we’re 0-0,” Nelson said about his team. “Scotty (James) asked me what our record was at the beginning of this game and I was like ‘I don’t even know, 0-0, hopefully it’s 1-0 after tonight.’ … Enjoy this one tonight and tomorrow we’ve got a big test ahead of us, we scheduled another tough nonleaguer with Randolph so we’re looking forward to that.”

PANAMA (60)

Barmore 1 2 4, Hinsdale 2 0 5, Mescall 1 0 3, Eggleston 0 0 0, Horton 1 1 3, Brink 15 2 35, Spiesman 1 0 2, Catanese 4 0 8, Burkholder 0 0 0. Totals 25 5 60.

FALCONER (36)

Delaney 0 0 0, RMarkham 7 2 17, Bianco 0 0 0, Parmentier 1 0 2, Brainard 0 0 0, Bailey 4 0 9, Maher 0 0 0, Nutt 0 0 0, ZMarkham 2 3 8. Totals 14 5 36.

3-point goals–Hinsdale, Mescall, Brink 3, RMarkham, Bailey, ZMarkham.

Panama 8 22 13 17 — 60

Falconer 14 9 8 5 — 36