Pleasant Home left everything on the court Friday night in a 61-37 loss to J.F. Shields in the Class 1A South Sub Regional.

In spite of the loss, the Eagles played like they always have — hard until the end of the game.

“A lack of effort was never our problem,” PHS coach Jerry Davis said. “One thing I can say about them is they played hard the whole time. They maintained and persevered.”

J.F. Shields held a 23-16 lead at halftime and came out with a ferocious third period, outscoring the Eagles 17-9.

PHS senior Lance Davis — who played his last game under his father, Jerry — drained a pair of free throws to put the game at 27-8.

The Panthers then went on an 8-0 run, thanks to good outside shooting and quickness on drives in the paint.

Lance got a drive and jumper on the offensive end to put the game at 38-20.

Tyran Nettles answered with a jumper for Shields to put the game at 40-20 with 1:30 to go in the third period.

Pleasant Home got two jump shots from Lance and Fantroy, plus the back-end of a free throw by Jon Cole Chesser to end the third on a 5-0 run to cut the game to 40-25.

The Eagles coach said he had to increase the pressure on defense in the third period because the game started to get away from the team.

“We had to start pressing,” Davis said. “We got them to turn it over some, but they handled it pretty well. They out-quicked us and they’ve got kids who can go to the hole.”

In the fourth period, the Eagles showed their grit when they cut the game to 12 points at 44-32 with 5:22 on a jumper from Fantroy.

TraDarius Murphy later got a rebound and putback off of a missed free throw to put the Panthers back out of range at 49-32.

After Lance made a jumper to put the game at 55-37, the Panthers then closed their victory out with a 6-0 run.

“They were about as good as I thought they would be,” Davis said about Shields. “That team is just awful strong. They’re just good.

“You can’t take anything away from our kids,” he said. “We played as hard as we could have played.”

Johnny Stallworth, who had 12 points for J.F. Shields, got the scoring going for the Panthers with a drive down the lane and layup.

On the other end, Lance found Fantroy wide open for a bucket to get the game to 2-2.

It was a back-and-forth effort for both teams, as nobody surged ahead for a big lead. Shields led 10-8 after the first period.

With 4:55 left in the first half, Chase Gunter drained a 3-pointer to cut the game to 16-13.

Lance led the Eagles with 20 points. Fantroy chipped in nine points.

Nettles had 10 points for the Panthers. RaeDamon McCreary scored 13 points and Murphy led with 15.

Pleasant Home ended its season 18-10.