Every win is a good win, but the aesthetics weren’t exactly there for the South Medford boys basketball team Friday night against visiting Willamette.

The good news for the Panthers is the frenetic scramble drill that seemed to take place on both ends of the floor went their way, allowing South Medford to end a modest two-game losing skid with a 60-32 Southwest Conference win.

The Panthers (9-12, 5-4 SWC) used a 10-3 run to open the second quarter to separate from the Wolverines and were never threatened after that, building a double-digit lead that just kept compounding with time in the second half.

“We kind of started off with low energy,” said South Medford junior Joey Clevenger of a ragtag opening quarter or so. “We’ve lost two in a row and we needed this first win of our last four games, so we kind of had that in the back of our minds to just make sure to get this first one down.”

Clevenger helped supply that victory with 11 points and six rebounds, while senior post Roy Mitchell gave South Medford a big boost off the bench with 10 points, eight rebounds, two blocks and two assists.

The key to the Panthers prevailing came on the defensive end, where they held Willamette (4-18, 1-9) to 24% shooting overall (12-for-49) and 13% from 3-point range (3-for-23).

On offense, however, errant passing and a few forced shots created a hectic scenario on that end of the floor — with the Panthers converting 39% of their shots (26-for-67) to go with a 1-for-13 effort from beyond the arc.

“That’s been our thing the whole year, on the defensive end we’re willing to get after it a little bit with some effort and energy,” said South Medford head coach James Wightman. “Offensively, we had so many open shots, and we just can’t throw the ball in the ocean at times.”

Fortunately for the Panthers, they were able to attack the offensive glass to gobble up 20 offensive rebounds as they won the overall battle on the boards, 51-20.

“A win’s a win,” said Wightman. “We’ll just take it and kind of go from there and try to find other ways that we can get these guys easier baskets.”

Senior guard Cole Adee chipped in with nine points, six rebounds and two assists, while Quinton Ritchie dished out four assists to go with three steals and Jaqsen Spires grabbed nine rebounds. Jed Johnson and Jake VonStrahl pulled in six boards apiece.

Despite some up and down play, South Medford still finds itself a half-game behind North Medford for second place in the SWC standings entering the home stretch. Sheldon sits atop the bunch at 9-0 in league play, but there is a cluster thereafter that includes North Medford at 5-3 in SWC play, South Medford and South Eugene each at 5-4 and Grants Pass right there at 5-5.

“We’ve sure got a chance for the playoffs so we’re gunning for that,” said Clevenger. “We just need to swing the rock a little more and pass it and stay aggressive on defense.”

WILLAMETTE (32): Garcia 7, Hall 7, Zumwalt 6, Grandberry 5, McCann 0, Newton 2, Burke 5, Read 0, Hafemann 0. Totals: 12-49 5-10 32.

SOUTH MEDFORD (60): Hopkins 0, Tannaci 6, Adee 9, Dufour 4, Spires 4, Ritchie 6, Clevenger 11, Johnson 6, VonStrahl 0, Atchley 0, Pacheco 4, Mitchell 10, Carson 0. Totals: 26-67 7-11 60.

Willamette 10 6 6 10 — 32

South Medford 14 12 18 16 — 60

3-point goals — Willamette 3-23 (Garcia 1, Hall 1, Burke 1), South Medford 1-13 (Adee 1). Technical fouls — South Medford scorebook.

SOUTH EUGENE 54, NORTH MEDFORD 44: Two sluggish quarters and 36% shooting from the field (18-for-50) — including a 4-for-22 showing from 3-point range — hindered North Medford in the Southwest Conference loss at the Pawlowski Athletic Center.

Easton Curtis recorded 11 points, five rebounds and two steals and Tate Snyder had 10 points, three steals and two rebounds to lead North Medford (12-8, 5-3 SWC).

Dylan Scott supplied nine points, three steals and three boards, but the Black Tornado managed only a combined four assists in the loss at the Oakdale Middle School site.

Calvin Yoder led three South Eugene (13-8, 5-4) players in double figures with 19 points.

SOUTH EUGENE (54): Johnson 1, Hawes 6, Rue 1, Kaster 0, Shafer 3, Gabriel 12, Perry 12, Yoder 19. Totals: 20 9-16 54.

NORTH MEDFORD (44): Scott 9, Rea 0, Sawyer 0, Curtis 11, Snyder 10, Healy 6, Stewart 6, Anderson 2, Patterson 0. Totals: 18-50 4-7 44.

South Eugene 12 13 16 13 — 54

North Medford 12 6 18 8 — 44

3-point goals — South Eugene 5 (Yoder 3, Gabriel 2), North Medford 4 (Healy 2, Scott 1, Curtis 1). Technical fouls — Scott.

THURSTON 56, CRATER 43: At Central Point, Crater fell behind early against No. 2-ranked Thurston and couldn’t recover in the Midwestern League defeat.

Elijah Bryant came up with 14 points, five rebounds and two assists to lead Crater (9-12, 3-6 MWL), which has lost three straight and four of its last five games.

Julien Grant added 11 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals for the Comets, while Ben Higginson had six rebounds and five points.

Lucas LaBounty scored 16 points to lead Thurston (18-3, 9-0), which built a 29-17 lead by halftime en route to its ninth straight victory.

THURSTON (56): Wilkens 0, Johnson 2, Newell 2, Piquette 0, Raven 0, Saunders 12, Blair 9, LaBounty 16, Stiffler 9, Hill 6. Totals: 21 7-9 56.

CRATER (43): Leland 7, Bryant 14, Smith 4, Higginson 5, Khalsa 0, Converse 0, Grant 11, Barlow 2, Darnell 0, Robinson 0, Cole 0. Totals: 15 10-20 43.

Thurston 17 12 16 11 — 56

Crater 11 6 10 16 — 43

3-point goals — Thurston 7 (LaBounty 3, Saunders 2, Blair 1, Stiffler 1), Crater 3 (Leland 1, Bryant 1, Higginson 1). Fouled out — Blair.

NORTH EUGENE 55, ASHLAND 40: At Eugene, Quillian Tourzan led Ashland with 15 points in the Midwestern League road loss.

The Grizzlies dropped to 10-10 overall and 3-5 in MWL play after sustaining their third loss in the last four games.

Jordan Gray led North Eugene (13-8, 6-3 MWL) with 21 points.

EAGLE POINT 61, SPRINGFIELD 57: At Eagle Point, Eagle Point picked up its third win in eight MWL contests and improved to 8-13 overall with the home victory.

CASCADE CHRISTIAN 60, BROOKINGS-HARBOR 40: At Brookings, Cascade Christian freshman Andy Alvarez produced 16 points, three blocks and three rebounds to lead the fourth-ranked Challengers to their 12th consecutive victory.

Jaren Fronckowiak added 14 points, six assists and four rebounds and Bryley Richardson had nine points, four rebounds and three steals for Cascade Christian, which improved to 17-4 overall and 8-0 in Southern Oregon Conference play.

Cade Goldade pulled in nine rebounds to go with seven points.

CASCADE CHRISTIAN (60): Richardson 9, Fronckowiak 14, Kleeker 5, Willard 0, Goldade 7, Snowden 3, Gotzman 6, Alvarez 16, Beamish 0. Totals: 24 6-8 60.

BROOKINGS-HARBOR (40): Carlson 2, Hatch 16, Pryor 7, Maylin 2, Spitael 4, Downing 5, Garcia 4, Austin 0, Lampley 0. Totals: 16 6-15 40.

Cascade Christian 18 17 12 13 — 60

Brookings-Harbor 6 7 14 13 — 40

3-point goals — Cascade Christian 6 (Fronckowiak 2, Goldade 2, Richardson 1, Snowden 1), Brookings-Harbor 2 (Hatch 2).

ST. MARY’S 49, NORTH VALLEY 43: At Merlin, St. Mary’s outscored North Valley 14-5 in the fourth quarter to earn the Southern Oregon Conference win and further clinch its hold on second place in the standings.

Kent David led the Crusaders with 15 points, nine rebounds and five steals, and Jax North registered eight of his 16 points to spark the fourth-quarter surge by St. Mary’s (12-8, 6-2 SOC). Erick Pezqueda came off the bench to lead North Valley (8-15, 4-5) with 10 points.

ST. MARY’S (49): A.J. Zimmerman 0, Hensman 10, North 16, King 8, David 15, T. Zimmerman 0, Seggelink 0, Chmelir 0.

NORTH VALLEY (43): Pezqueda 10, Brazier 2, Kissel 7, Sifre 0, Hemsley 9, Allison 5, Champion 4, Smith 6.

St. Mary’s 9 16 10 14 — 49

North Valley 11 14 13 5 — 43