BOYS BASKETBALL: Hornets win first place battle with Panthers
Nashville made the most of their size advantage over Pinckneyville in Saturday night's first place battle in the Mississippi Division of the Southern Illinois River-to-River Conference, getting lots of lay-ups on their way to an 11-for-12 shooting performance in the second half of their 57-42 win over the Panthers.
Hornet big men Royce Newman and Hunter Cooper each put in ten points, but also created opportunities for Brady Bultman, who led Nashville with fourteen points.
With three of Pinckneyville's post players - Clayton Houghland, Sam Simpson and Caleb Dahn - sidelined, the Panthers were no match for the Hornets in the paint despite a solid effort defensively from Adam Banach, the lone player left healthy for PCHS over 6'2.
"We're not going to make excuses," said Panthers head coach Bob Waggoner. "We didn't play very well with the ball, didn't rebound, had guys out of position against their length. It makes it tough."
"We can't sub out some guys right now. That's just the way it is. I'm very proud of the effort Adam Banach gave in the post, he worked his butt off and competed well."
After a Nolan Luke three-pointer with 7:20 to go in the first quarter, the Panthers led 3-0 - and never again. Almost immediately, Nashville responded with a 9-1 run to take control.
Tristan Fisher made a three with 4:00 to go in the period that made it 11-9, but Nashville extended their lead even further with a 10-0 run from there.
Every time the Panthers would start to catch up, the Hornets had an answer.
Another Fisher three cut the Hornets' lead to 23-18 with 3:27 left in the half, a margin the Panthers would maintain until the break. But over the course of the first two minutes of the second half, Nashville separated themselves for good. Bultman made a layup thirty seconds into the third period to start an 8-0 run that included a pair of easy buckets for Newman. Pinckneyville got no closer than eleven down from that point on.
"You have to shoot the ball well," Waggoner said. "You have to have guys that play intelligently. Our guys didn't play very well tonight, we had foul trouble, guys out of position, guys that didn't compete real hard on the ball, some bad passes, some bad turnovers. We've got to make improvements."
The Panthers committed sixteen turnovers to Nashville's ten.
Luke led the Panthers with thirteen points, Fisher had eleven, Brian Taylor six, Jackson Brand four, Banach and J.C. Moll each had three, and Tyler Rulevish scored two points.
The victory broke a tie atop the Mississippi Division between the Panthers and Hornets as both teams entered the showdown with a conference record of 7-1 with two games remaining. Nashville was unbeaten in conference play before losing to Carterville on Friday.
Both the Lions (21-4) and Panthers (22-6) now sit one game back of the Hornets at 7-2, and will play each other at Thomas Gymnasium in Pinckneyville this Friday night. Nashville (25-3, 8-1) is at Du Quoin (8-19, 1-8) and can wrap up the Mississippi Division title with a victory.
The Panthers will then head to Chester as the top seed of the Regional. They'll get the winner between Du Quoin and Red Bud on Monday, February 23 in Tuesday, February 24's 7:00 p.m. semifinal.
Pinckneyville 54, Anna-Jonesboro 49
The Panthers trailed entering the fourth quarter but found a way to get it done at home against Anna-Jonesboro on Friday night, winning the battle with the Wildcats 54-49.
Helping carry Pinckneyville was a perfect 11-for-11 performance at the free throw line in the fourth quarter, six of those makes coming from the Panthers leading scorer on the night, Luke (21 points). For the game, PCHS shot 20-for-22 at the line while A-J made just 5-of-13.
Fisher added thirteen points for Pinckneyville, Banach had nine, Taylor six, Rulevish three and Justin Bauersachs two. Noah Prater led the Wildcats with fourteen points.