That established a pattern for the match, and while the Warriors dropped their level at times, they were good enough to lift at crucial stages in the match.
It continues their mini-revival after four consecutive losses had threatened to send the campaign into a spiral.
"It's a turning point for our season," said Tevaga. "It could have gone either way. But the boys got through it [and] we are getting the ball rolling. Before last week, we had a month of tough losses. It's back-to-back wins now and we have set the standard of how we should perform."
"The scary thing is we have a lot to improve on and we haven't played our best yet. If we keep improving, keep bringing the energy, we will be hard to beat."
The team's debrief will be mainly positive, aside from the 10 minutes either side of halftime, when errors invited Penrith back into the contest.
"We were a bit patchy at the end of the first half," said Tevaga.
"At halftime, Mooks [coach Stephen Kearney] told us we have to keep our foot on the pedal [and] can't let it off because the Panthers were desperate. We knew they were going to scrap right to the end."
The win was built on a dominant defensive effort, which denied Penrith time and space.
And when they did get close, the Warriors had the answers, with Tevaga, Bunty Afoa and Karl Lawton all coming up with tremendous last-ditch stops to deny what seemed certain tries.
"We take pride in our goal line defence," said Tevaga. "Even if we gave away a penalty, we didn't mind and got on with the next job."
Tevaga ran for 112m off nine carries and made 28 tackles, with only one miss.
Bunty Afoa was also strong off the bench but the engine room produced an impressive all-round performance. "After a tough month, we had to put the onus on us middles," said Tevaga. "We weren't doing a good enough job and we are taking it really personal now.
"Our back five are doing a tremendous job and we just weren't doing enough as a pack."
The Warriors watched the closing stages of Brisbane's impressive 15-10 win over the Roosters at their team hotel on Friday night and will be wary of a Broncos outfit next Saturday that also seem on the rebound.
Tevaga concedes they will have to lift again but remains confident.
"We have set the foundation and the standard for ourselves as a team," said Tevaga.
"We can only get better from here."
