ELWOOD — Entering Saturday night’s game at Elwood, it had been seven years since the Panthers had defeated Lapel. But like so many times before, Elwood came up just short in the season opener for both teams.

Behind junior Logan Ingle’s 25 points, the Bulldogs held off a late Panther rally and defeated Elwood 62-59 for the 10th straight time.

“This was the year that we had a chance to beat them,” Elwood coach Kyle Hobbs said. “This was the time to get them on our home court, but we just didn’t make enough plays.”

Lapel led by as many as 15 points in the third quarter, but Elwood rallied in the final minutes of the game. Capping off a 7-0 run, Elwood’s Tyler Creasy nailed a 3-pointer with 1:08 remaining in the game and gave the Panthers a 59-58 lead.

The shot was Creasy’s fourth 3-pointer in the game and gave Elwood its first lead since the opening minute of the contest.

“We could have folded the tents and gotten beat soundly, but our kids kept battling and got themselves in position to win the game,” Hobbs said.

However, Ryan Scott recaptured the lead for the Bulldogs on the following possession with a running one-hander in the lane.

Elwood had several looks at the basket in the final seconds, including an open 3-point attempt by Jacob Dunnichay that would have given the Panthers the lead with five seconds left. However, Dunnichay’s go-ahead shot rimmed out, and Lapel pulled down the rebound to seal the game.

“We were just happy to get out of there with the win,” Lapel coach Jimmie Howell said.

Ingle, Jeremy Reed and Chandler Guion scored 58 of Lapel’s 62 points. Ingle led the way with 25 points, while Guion and Reed added 19 and 14, respectively.

With five players scoring at least eight points for the Bulldogs, scoring was more balanced for Elwood. Thomas Abner had 16 points, Creasy scored 14 points and Dunnichay added 11 points. Nathaniel Jones and Chris Young had eight points apiece.

Ingle had nine points in the first quarter for the Bulldogs, helping Lapel to a 19-9 advantage entering the second quarter.

“We were able to hold Elwood off at the end of the game, because we had such a big lead (at the start of the game),” Howell said.

With three minutes left in the third quarter, Ingle hit a layup that gave Lapel a 46-31 lead, its largest of the game.

Lapel outrebounded Elwood 34-26, which was because of the significant size advantage that the Bulldogs had. Ingle (6-foot-5) and Reed (6-foot-4) were both taller than Elwood’s tallest player, Abner (6-foot-3). Elwood’s starting front court of Ingle, Reed and Scott pulled down 21 rebounds.