Panola College’s Enel St. Bernard scored six points with six rebounds and four blocks in No. 6 Panola’s 60-53 wire-to-wire victory over No. 11 Frank Phillips in a NJCAA Division I second round game in Hutchinson, Kansas on Tuesday. (Carlee Permenter/Panola Watchman)

HUTCHINSON, Kansas — Playing their first game in nine days, the Panola College men’s basketball team picked things up very similar to the last time after an extended break: a wire-to-wire victory.

CJ Worsham scored a team-high 19 points with six rebounds as No. 6 seeded Panola never trailed in defeating No. 11 seeded Frank Phillips 60-53 in a NJCAA Division I Championship second round game on Tuesday night in Hutchinson, Kansas.

Panola (28-6), who received a first round bye, was playing their first game since defeating Trinity Valley in the Region XIV Tournament championship and didn’t show any signs of rust.

The Ponies came out strong and forced the Plainsmen to play catch-up after Waqo Tessema scored five points to start the game.

Frank Phillips (25-9) defeated No. 22 seed Wallace State 83-69 in their tournament opener to reach the second round.

Worsham connected on 7-of-11 from the field as the freshman from Chicago even hit his lone 3-point attempt in the game.

Jaylen Drane scored 10 points and Khoi Thurmon filled the stat sheet with eight points, five rebounds and four assists.

Travis Torain scored seven points with six rebounds and a pair of steals, while Enel St. Bernard and Tessema each scored six points. St. Bernard added six rebounds, four blocks and a pair of steals, and Tessema had three assists to go along with four steals.

Panola led Frank Phillips 32-23 going to the half.

The Plainsmen cut Panola’s lead down to eight on three occasions in the second half and down to six at 59-53 with 26.8 left in the game.

The last time Panola had a break of at least seven days, the Ponies blew out Navarro 86-62 back on March 13 in the Region XIV Tournament quarterfinals.

Panola wasn’t as dominant as they were against Navarro, but held Frank Phillips to just 32% shooting, including just 2-of-19 from behind the 3-point line.

The Ponies hit on 7-of-13 from behind the 3-pont line as Tessema and Torain each made two.

Panola shot 6-of-10 from beyond the arc and Frank Phillips shot just 1-of-8 from behind the 3-point line in the first half.

Benicio Leons led the Ponies with nine rebounds in the victory.

LA Hayes came off the bench and scored a game-high 23 points for Frank Phillips.

Sherman Weatherspoon IV scored 12 points and Mady Traore scored nine points with six rebounds for the Plainsmen.

With the win, Panola will face No. 14 seed Vincennes in the quarterfinals Wednesday at 8 p.m. The game will broadcast on ESPN+.

Vincennes defeated No. 3 seed Indian Hills 85-71 in their second round matchup.