The Russellville Panthers concluded the regular season with a home match against the Fort Campbell Falcons last Thursday. With the district tournament looming large tonight, it would have been easy for the Panthers to overlook the Falcons.

They made sure that this game was out of reach early as they just ran away from the Falcons in a 88-42 blow out victory.

“A lot better effort, a little bit more time to work on things for the district tournament,” RHS head coach Dennis Pardue said. “Positive side is that we took care of the ball a lot better, defensive effort was better for us.”

In the first quarter the Panthers showed a new look on their starting rotation. With Darrion Quarles still suspended and a brand new point guard running the show it was a slightly different team than the one that opened the season. But within four minutes of the game, the Panthers offense and defense was clicking on all cylinders. They raced out to a 21-6 lead in the first quarter.

Their defense was as dominant as it had been all season and their offense that has been spotty at times looked unstoppable. With an offense that seemed to hold onto the ball a little better the offense put up 43 points in the first half.

But the coaching staff knows that the caliber of team they were playing wasn’t the same as the top teams in the region.

“Again you can’t put a whole lot into that because Bowling Green is at one level and Fort Campbell is at another,” coach Pardue said.

Going into the second half the end of the game was never really in doubt. The coaching staff wanted to see the bugaboo of the third quarter eliminated. In some games the Panthers struggled to get back into the flow of the game in the third, but this time Russellville pounced quickly and continued to pour on the points.

The offensive onslaught would continue as the starters were lifted in the fourth quarter and Russellville cruised to a 88-42 victory.

“It’s a good game to go into the district tournament on,” coach Pardue said. “It’s not really wins and losses, it’s about how you’re playing going into the district tournament cause now everybody is 0-0.”

Davis Pardue led the team with 15 points, six assists and three rebounds. Zach Hines collected 14 points, eight rebounds and three steals and Jordan Kennedy had 13 points, five rebounds and a block in the blow out win.

Now with the regular season wrapped up the Panthers go into the tournament as the two seed and will square off against Franklin-Simpson. They swept the season series with a 60-59 victory at home and then an impressive 56-38 victory on the road.

“We just have to do what we did in the first two games, now we look at it like those two were practice,” coach Pardue said.

If the Panthers can knock off the Franklin-Simpson Wildcats tonight it will be the ninth consecutive year that Russellville makes the Region 4 tournament.