Calvin Washington had been relatively quiet the past two games for the Panthers.

The senior forward scored five points in each of the last two outings.

He got louder on Sunday–scoring the first four points for the Panthers against Regent University Swartz Gym.

He didn’t just score them.

He stuffed them through the rim in dramatic fashion with two opening dunks that set the pace for the men’s basketball contest. The first was off a Kyree Ellis, junior, steal and feed from Tahli Oden, senior. The second was off an Oden block and assist from Ellis.

The crowd was immediately in the game, and the Panthers responded accordingly.

Zavier Measmer,  junior, added two threes, and Ferrum was up 10-4 only three minutes into the contest.

Less than a minute later, an alley-oop to Washington from Ellis made the score 12-6 Panthers, and momentum was clearly residing in the Ferrum end of the court.

From there, the men dropped another 50+ point half–their third in four games and second in as many outings. Easy math would estimate another game where the Panthers topped the century mark, but the final tally stood just shy of the triple digit, with the black and gold taking the victory 95-45.

Washington finished the day as the Panther’s second-leading scorer with 12, all of which were in the first half. He went 5-8 from the field and 2-2 from the line.

“He was ready to go today,” Head Coach Pat Corrigan said. “He had that look, and any time he has that it’s a good feeling. You know what you’re about to get when he has that look in his eyes. You could tell he was ready to play.”

That helped carry the Panthers to a 55-point first half to only 19 for Regent. Still, Corrigan wasn’t completely satisfied with the first-half performance.

“There was a period during the first half where we weren’t defending all that well, and we called a timeout,” Corrigan said. “It was like 25-15 at the time, and there were still 10-12 minutes left in the half, and they scored four points the rest of the half. So whatever that run was, there was some real good basketball in there.”

By game’s end, Corrigan got 13 players in the game, with 12 of them scoring points.

Jikari Johnson, junior, led the Panthers–again–with 16, going 6-10 from the field and 4-5 from beyond the arc. Corrigan said it was difficult to keep finding more good ways to describe Johnson.

“He’s really good,” he said. “Not much else to say there. He’s just a really good player. He works on his game, and he’s getting to show what he is able to do.”

Bryant Wall, junior, and Jayden Boyd, freshman, came off the bench and dropped 11 and 10 points, respectively. Corrigan praised Boyd’s play after the game.

“He’s really good for a freshman,” he said. “He’s got a lot of potential. He’s one of our better defenders, he can really move his feet for his size. He’s got a really good feel for where to be off the ball, creating action for other players, and then he’s pretty good in the post. He’s a tough cover down there when he gets the ball.”

Ellis added 11 points for the Panthers, and Measmer chipped in 8. Marcus Neal, senior, also tossed in 7, and perennial crowd favorite James McCreary, freshman, contributed 6.

The Panthers have a few days off for the holiday but will be back in action on Saturday against Averett University. The 2 p.m. matchup will be the ODAC opener for Ferrum, and Corrigan hopes the team can provide consistent, hard play.

“We keep talking about playing a full 40 minutes,” Corrigan said. “That’s what it takes to win in the ODAC. To win at a consistent level, you have to play a full 30-35 minutes. You can’t play 25 minutes–it’s not good enough.”