Monitor Photo/Blaine Clamon
Mabank High School senior boys’ basketball player Carter Sims (holding placard, with teammates) is honored during the Jan. 2 home game versus Canton for scoring 1,000 career points as a Panther. His team then went on to defeat district rival Canton by 13 points.

MABANK–Mabank and Canton began their respective District 15-4A schedules Jan. 2 as the Eagles visited the Panthers of Mabank.
Field goals from Jayden Colin and Cullen McFaul gave Mabank the early 4-0 lead. Canton got on the board at 4-1 with a free throw from Judson Dyke. Colin, Carter Sims and Joseph Magana combined for a 7-0 run to close the first quarter for the Panthers, and Mabank led 11-1.
After a three-pointer from Sims built the Panther lead to 14-1, a 3-pointer by Colton Bell, an and-1 plus free throw by Canton’s Dyke and a layup by his teammate Deon Dekkers cut the lead to five as the Eagles trailed 14-9 with 5:30 left until halftime.
Mabank led 19-9 with 3:02 remaining in the first half before a 3-pointer from Bailey Holiman made it 19-12, getting the Eagles closer. Then, at 22-12 in favor of the Panthers, a 3-pointer by Holiman and a field goal by Dyke cut Mabank’s lead to 22-17, with a minute left until intermission.
Luke Carter of Mabank then built the Panther lead to 24-17 before Bell’s 3-pointer made the score 24-20 in favor of Mabank at the break.
Then, in the second half (at 24-22), Mabank went on an 8-0 run and led 32-22 with 59 seconds left in the third quarter. Mabank’s Sims had 5 points during that stretch. Dyke’s basket for Canton cut Mabank’s advantage to 32-24 going into the fourth quarter.
After a free throw by Dyke, Carter’s field goal for Mabank made it 34-25 in favor of the Panthers with 5:15 left to play. Afterward, Dyke made another free throw and Bell drained an Eagle 3-pointer to allow Canton to trail 34-29. The Panthers then scored five-straight points to lead 39-29 with 3 minutes left in the contest.
With 2:10 remaining, Dyke’s field goal for Canton trimmed the lead to 39-31, but 5-straight points by Mabank’s Sims put the game out of reach as the Panthers defeated the Eagles, 44-31.
Both teams resumed play Jan. 6, as Mabank hosted Bullard in a non-district affair while Canton continued its 15-4A schedule by hosting Van.