Washington coach Ralph Biggs said his team competed against former 2-A Eastern Plains Conference foe North Pitt for about 22 of 32 minutes on Wednesday. With the team now dropping to 0-7 after a 63-51 loss to the Panthers, Biggs is hoping to build toward the Pam Pack playing a complete game.

The home side matched North Pitt tit for tat in the first half. Quick baskets — a 3-pointer by senior Deonte Person and a baseline jumper from freshman Jaquez Coffey — put North Pitt on top, 7-3, early on.

The Pam Pack responded with baskets from three different players: consecutive triples by Tayevon Blackledge and Eric Lewis sandwiched between a pair of layups by Tyshawn Roberson.

Trayvon Campbell scored six in the second quarter, but the Panthers finished the half with nine unanswered points to take a 33-25 lead into the locker room.

“It’s progress. That’s what we’re working on,” Biggs said. “It’s mental toughness where you have to do everything right for the whole 32 minutes instead of 22 minutes. I think that’s where we are. We made it to 22.”

Ja’quez Ruffin and Uriah Lawrence had buckets that helped Washington close the gap to four, 39-35, in the third quarter.

Then the game started slipping away. North Pitt began the fourth quarter with a 9-0 run that put Washington behind, 55-39. Biggs opted to make some substitutions after it took the Pam Pack over three minutes into the period to make a basket.

“The game got out of hand and we wanted to throw some other guys in there to give them a chance to see what they could do with more than just 30 seconds,” Biggs said. “We got them in there with four or five minutes. They brought us positive energy and showed us some things that we’ve got to take a look at. Maybe they earned some more minutes.”

Isaiah Blanch knocked one down from long range. Jare Jackson one-upped that with a four-point play after he made a trey through contact and converted on the free throw.

Weather it was excited energy to get an opportunity or the relative lack of pressure, the personnel change worked.

“It’s eagerness and opportunity. At home, it’s a lot easier to throw them in,” Biggs said. “You’ve got your home crowd and friends cheering for you. I think that helps them. A coach told me, ‘You can love to play for me or you can hate me enough to play for your teammates.’ It’s one of those things where they want to prove me wrong.”

Thomas Edwards, whose performance in the post was one of the more consistent aspects, spread it out with a 3 of his own. Suddenly, North Pitt’s lead was down to 57-51 with about 2:10 left to play. However, a handful of easy shots let the Panthers pull away for their third win of the season.