LANETT — The Lanett boys basketball team clinched the regular season area title in exciting fashion in a 90-70 win over Notasulga on Tuesday night.

“It’s always good,” Lanett boys head basketball coach Richard Carter said. “I tell every team that I’ve coached that you don’t want to go on the road because the road is not kind. Anytime that you can stay at home, you stay at home. Our next goal is to win the area championship because that’s when it really gets to be trouble when you go to subregions.”

The Panthers led for most of the first three quarters by 10-11 points, but that all changed with 1:19 remaining in the third quarter. Lanett junior forward Zameron Boozer came down the lane when the Panthers were inbounding the ball under their basket. The inbound-pass was an alley-oop up to Boozer, who soared over his Notasulga defender for an empathic slam that changed the entire momentum of the game.

Lanett went on a run that carried through the start of the fourth quarter when junior Kristian Story dunked over a Notasulga defender on a fast break for another and-one opportunity that got the crowd on its feet.

“There’s always excitement in the dunks,” Carter said. “The fans get excited. The players get excited. There’s something about it that causes a momentum shift. Once that happens, if everyone gets involved, then it makes for  a great ball game.”

Zameron Boozer tied with sophomore guard Trey Abner as the team’s leading scorer for the night with 19 points in the effort. Story, who finished the night with three dunks, contributed 15 points in the effort. Cameron Boozer and Jayshon Burton finished in double figures as well for the Panthers. Quae Houston, Dee Dobbs, Kaylen Dunn, Larontavious Hurston, O’bias Patrick and B.J. Smith also got on the board for Lanett.

The team has little time to recover, as Lanett returns to action on Wednesday night at home against Handley.

“Handley is going to bring out a big crowd, we know that,” Carter said. “We need to have ourselves a big crowd here. These kids work really hard, and we need people to come out to see them play.”

The game is the final of a back-to-back-to-back for the boys team, who are finishing up the week by playing four games in five days.

“We have no time for rest, no time for practice,” Carter said. “But after Wednesday, we’re going to take Thursday off, we’ll go to Loachapoka on Friday and then we’ll have the weekend off.”