Panther Creek is No. 1 in the state on the 4-A level.

Athens Drive is No. 5 and Middle Creek is No. 10, which means we're heading for some incredible showdowns this season between those three, but before we can get to the first one of those this Friday, we had games to play tonight.

Could Panther Creek hold on and could undefeated Athens Drive avoid upset before these two titans play each other this Friday?

Here are tonight's scores from around the Tri-Eight conference, and how the standings are holding up.

Panther Creek 52, Apex 43

Earnest Ross stays hot for the Catamounts, leading all scorers with 25 points. Weston Murphy and Connor Belicic each chip in 13 for the losing Cougars, who dropped to 6-7 overall. I think the fact Murphy got double-digits speaks volumes about how good/underrated he is. Panther Creek has made it a recent habit of embarrassing the best player on the opposing team, holding Melvin Tabb to four points and Stan Okoye to six.

Athens Drive 55, Lee County 38

The Jaguars are now 13-0! And they'll host Panther Creek this Friday (better get there early if you want a seat folks!) in what'll be a monumental match-up.  Lee County scored two — that's right — two first-quarter points. Josh Davis (what a player he is), had 29 points for Athens in the big win.

Middle Creek 79, Fuquay-Varina 45

The area's high-watermark has been set for single-game points scored, as Tom Tankelewicz dropped a whopping 37 points on the Bengals Tuesday night. Garrius Adams had 24 himself, and the Mustangs crushed Fuquay from beginning-to-end, leading 57-17 at half. Middle Creek is now 12-2 overall and 4-0 in Tri-Eight play.

Green Hope 69, Cary 65

I've been telling people that neither Green Hope nor Cary are as bad as their records indicate, and I think this game proves my point. Cary had enough to mount a 11-point lead, and Green Hope had enough firepower to overcome it. Shawn Shaffer had 22 for the Falcons in the win, which they desperately needed after starting out 0-4 in conference. 

 Tri-Eight Standings

Athens Drive 4-0 13-0

Panther Creek 4-0 12-1

Middle Creek 4-0 12-2

Apex  1-3 6-7

Fuquay-Varina 1-3 3-10

Cary 1-3 1-12

Lee County 1-4 4-8

Green Hope 1-4 5-10

Keep in mind this Friday Panther Creek (13-1, 4-0) will head to Athens Drive (13-0, 4-0). I'm telling you, get your seat early! Games like this one (No. 1 vs No. 5 in the state) don't happen in this area every year, so you'd better catch the match-up while you still can. Trust me. We'll have more on that game later today.

 Other area boys' scores:

Cary Christian 57, Friendship Christian 46

Cary Academy 60, Wake Christian 51

Holly Springs 71, SE Raleigh 69 

Wachovia Bank, N.A., along with the North Carolina High School Athletic Association, today announced the standings for fall sports in the Wachovia Cup competitions for the 2008-2009 sports season.

It's no mistake that the North Harrison Avenue families are slated to wait until 2010 to be reassigned to Cary High.

In the draft plan, those nodes were slated to be reassigned from Panther Creek High to Athens Drive High in 2009-10. Administrators said they'd recommend moving them to Cary HIgh instead, as urged by the parents, in the revised plan.

But what surprised those nodes when the plan came out last month is that they won't go to Cary High until 2010.

We certainly found out a lot about our area teams as they competed against some top-notch competition at various tournaments.

Winter break is coming to a close for our area schools, so it's time to blow the dust off the ol' TCN rankings and see how each team did over break.

We don't have any games listed for Apex, so we're assuming the undefeated record is still intact. If that's the case, then who said idleness is a bad thing? Cary Christian lost two games at the Johnson-Lambe Tournament by a combined five points, meaning Apex will leapfrog them this week.

Also losing two games over break is Athens Drive, who faced stiff tests from Wake-Forest Rolesville and SE Raleigh.

It wasn't fair to move anybody else up or down, but we should note that Cary Academy is poised to vault up the standings if they can continue their outstanding play. After finally defeating Cary Christian (first time out of three games this year), the Chargers came within seconds of defeating Southern Durham (losing in OT) and easily won a match-up with Fuquay-Varina.

Boys All-Tournament Team

Gabe Ruth, Saint David’s

Franklin Trapp, Western Harnett

Cameron Walton, Cary Academy

Nate Vernon, Carolina Friends

Brian Richardson, Greenfield

Most Outstanding Player

Brain Richardson, Greenfield

Girls All-Tournament Team

Garland Austin, Charlotte Latin

Laurel Burk, Durham Academy

Kelsey Lee, Cary Academy

Kiera Hinton, Southern Durham

Ariel Bursey, Western Harnett

Most Outstanding Player

Ariel Bursey, Western Harnett

I don't have much of a say in who makes the two GSK all-tournament teams
(there's one from each the three brackets; Girls, Holiday Summit Group and Randolph
Foundation Group), but I know those who do. And from all indications, it
appears we'll have four local players on the two teams.

After some technical difficulties (the wireless here bumps me off once a day and had to meet its quota), we're back from Broughton High School and the GlaxoSmithKline Holiday Invitational.

With 6:30 left in the first, Panther Creek leads 14-12

--Sorry for the long wait in between updates. Earnest Ross just got fouled on what looked like a 3-points shot with 5.5 seconds left in the first. Instead, it's a one-and-one and he misses the front end. That leaves our score unchanged. At half, it's 28-22 PC.

--Earnest Ross opens up the second half with a steal and a lay-in. He now has 14 points.

--It's 36-26, Panther Creek still in the lead. The Catamounts are doing a great job on defense and rebounding, and that's what has kept them ahead

--40-32 PC still in the lead. I promise I'll be more descriptive next time.

--The Catamounts hold the rock for the greater part of the final 30 seconds, but Ross' 3-pointer is off. However, PC still holds the 40-34 lead going into the fourth.

--Tyler Nicholson hits a 3-pointer to open the fourth, and Knightdale closes the gap 40-37. PC's Ross is fouled on the other end and sinks two. 42-37, PC lead, 7:24 left in the fourth.

--PC forces a turnover with their full-court trap, and Marques Oliver flushes a breakaway dunk. 44-37. He comes back and hits a nice hook shot, and makes it 46-37.

--James Toney nearly dunks all over Knightdale's Eric Green. He misses the dunk, and both free throws, but Ross is there with the offensvie board and the putback. 48-39, 5:31 left.

--Josh Gorham tosses in a floater off the glass, cutting the deficit to seven. 48-41 PC lead. 4:21 to play.

--Remember, this game is basically for Wake County supremacy (but undefeated Athens Drive would have a problem with that).

--Marques Oliver has shown a good all-around game today, hitting a long two to give his team a 50-41 lead. His brother Brandon hits a freebie and it's 51-41.

--PC gets a 10-second half court violation and a sweet lay-in from Marques Oliver.

--As Stan Okoye lays-in a basket, they announce he now has 1,001th point. Quite an accomplishment.

--1:50 to go, it's 56-46.

--Knightdale is now having to foul, and it's 58-46 Panther Creek with Isaiah Johnson stepping to the line for two. 14.2 seconds left on the clock.

--Panther Creek wins, 60-46. Ross with 23 points, giving him 79 for the tournament, which is tops for right now.

We're down to the last day of competition at the GlaxoSmithKline Holiday Invitational, and Panther Creek's Earnest Ross is in third right now in total points scored with a chance for his team to finish third in the Summit Hospitality bracket. That's the good news.

Want even more good news? There's no seventh-place game this year, which means scoring leaders Nolan Dennis (Richland, Tx.) and Akeem Richmond (Southern Lee) are done, which means Ross is No. 1 in total points among active players.

Now, some guys may play for better teams (like John Wall, Mason Plumlee, etc.) and therefore not have to score as much. Others are the only threat on their team to do much of anything (Reggie Bullock, Tashawn Mabry). 

Ross is somewhere in between, and that's why he and his team have been able to succeed so far in the tourney.

He's one of five three-year starters for the Catamounts, which means other guys have the confidence to step up their games should opponents begin to focus on just Ross. He doesn't have Matt Wilson as a sidekick as does Ryan Kelly, or a Lakeem Jackson-type like Christ School. 

He is, however surrounded by good players who know how to get him the ball, and pick up the slack whenever his shot isn't going down.

Ross will get his chance to go for this year's scoring title, and possibly a MOP award, when the Catamounts take the floor tomorrow at 2:40 p.m. against Knightdale.

Below is a listing of those players with 30 or more points after two games. The total points is on the right, while those players who have committed are also listed with their college choice. If a player has a "0" in a column, that means he is out of the tournament.

In parentheses is what bracket that player is in, whether it's the Summit Hospitality Group (SHG) or the Shavlik Randolph Foundation (Shav) 

Girls' scores:

Charlotte Latin 55, Fuquay-Varina 38
Western Harnett 69, Durham Academy 32
Cary Academy 53, Cary Christian 49
Southern Durham 66, Panther Creek 32

Boys' scores:

Greenfield 82, Western Harnett 50
St. David's 72, Fuquay-Varina 54
Carolina Friends 61, Cary Academy 56
Carolina Prep vs. Cary Christian, 6:30 p.m.

Click "read more" to see individual scorers from each game.