Lakeside knew the task at hand when county rival Harlem came to the Panthers gym Tuesday night.

The Bulldogs beat Lakeside by 14 points earlier this year at the Columbia County Tip Off Tournament with junior guard Cedric Boatner leading the way.

Lakeside coach Ryan Morningstar knew he couldn't let that happen again.

"Our plan was to come in and stop Cedric Boatner," he said. "We set up in our zone, and I think that took them out of sync."

It took a team effort to pull it off, but the Panthers held Harlem's top scorer to 10 points and went on to win 51-38. A simple 2-3 zone defense made all the difference.

"Their defense shut us down," Harlem coach Kim Chambers said. "It's not just Cedric. We had to have some other people step up and score to take that pressure off, and we didn't get it."

Instead, Harlem struggled to move the ball inside against the Panthers. Turnovers and poor shot selection limited the Bulldogs to 12-for-48 shooting.

Lakeside led 12-8 after the first quarter and pulled away after outscoring Harlem by nine in the second quarter (13-4).

The Panthers, whose earlier loss to Harlem came during a four-game losing streak to start the season, have won four games over the past 11 days -- including Tuesday's win -- along with a pair of wins over Silver Bluff and Greenbrier.

"I think it's the defense. I told the kids the offense will come, but you've got to make sure you're playing defense," Morningstar said. "The kids' communications skills are making the difference on the defensive end of the floor."

Offensively, the Panthers got a spark from starting point guard Rosbie Mutcherson. The junior scored 10 of Lakeside's first 14 points and finished with a game-high 20.

"Last year is starting to pay off," Morningstar said. "We threw him in the fire a little bit last year as a sophomore, and he's got that experience now. He takes over when we need him to."

After trailing by 16 entering the fourth quarter, Harlem narrowed the gap to 11 with 4:35 left in the game. Mutcherson nailed a 3-pointer to extend the lead, and the Bulldogs never recovered.