The Panthers could not overcome their second half mistakes and the Patriots came out with a 70-47 victory.
Both teams got out to a fast start. The Patriots controlled the tip and Anthony Graves hit a quick three to give the Patriots the first lead. On the other end Damien Elam of the Panthers hit a tough driving lay-up for Russellville's first score of the game. The Panthers would again give up a three at the top of the key to Graves and he didn't miss. Donnie Bigbee and Mikie Benton both had baskets to even the score at six. After the teams traded baskets a couple more times the score was 16-14 with 1:41 left in the first quarter.
A Phillip Hayes layup for the Patriots and a Trevor Clark put back for the Panthers put the score at 18-16 at the end of the first.
The second quarter was a defensive struggle for both teams. After the offensive dominated first quarter, neither team would score until almost three minutes had elapsed in the second quarter. The Patriots finally got on the board with a Jay Starks dunk. Another good post move by the Patriots' Phillip Hayes would put Allen County Scottsville up 22-16. Russellville looked as though they would not score in the entire second quarter until with 11 seconds left Damien Elam caught the Patriots off guard with a run out lay-up. With the slow second quarter the score at half time was 24-18 in favor of the Patriots.
The third quarter would open up well for the Panthers. Benton came out of the locker room to nail a 3-pointer and put the Panthers right back within three. Allen County Scottsville would rattle off four straight points but an Elam jumper would again cut the lead to only five, 28-23. The Patriots would get a free throw from Starks and a strong post move from Hayes to put them up eight. The Panthers then applied some defensive pressure and forced the Patriots' Starks to dribble it off his foot right into the hands of Daniel Purdue who laid it up and in to cut the lead to six. The Patriots' Graves and Russellville's Jamarcus Gordon would both have four points straight in route to a score of 35-29 score with just under three minutes remaining.
Allen County Scottsville finally distanced themselves from the Panthers with an 11-4 run to end the quarter. Donnie Bigbee was the only Panther to score in the last three minutes of the third quarter. The Panthers had their work cut out for them in the fourth quarter down 46-33.
The Panthers' Bigbee scored their first five points of the fourth quarter but his team was still down 12 with only 6:30 left in the game. The Patriots would extend their lead with another 12-0 run to make the score 64-40 with just under two minutes left to play. The Panthers kept fighting and would score seven points in the final minute and a half but it was much too little too late. The Patriots would go on to win 70-64.
“I felt like our effort was superb - it was something that we talked about before the game and all this week.” said Russellville coach Dennis Pardue. “We're still searching for our team's identity, and individuals identity as well. I think we'll keep improving and be a pretty good team come February.”
Post a Comment
