BASKETBALL: Panthers claim first DTHC crown
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Pinckneyville used an 11-0 second quarter run to build their lead and made a total of eight three-pointers in beating defending tournament champ Olney 57-34 to claim first place in the 2010 Duster Thomas Hoops Classic held at Thomas Gymnasium.
"We talked about Olney's defense and how if you're willing to play inside-out or skip the ball it's going to be there," said Panthers' head coach Bob Waggoner following the victory.
"You have to give our guards credit. Early in the year guys were a little hesistant because they weren't sure if they could shoot it or not, tonight they were ready."
The tournament crown is the Panthers' first in their holiday event, and the loss is only the second suffered by the Tigers in DTHC history (Teutopolis, 2008).
"I think (Pinckneyville) played really physical, we had three tough games in our pool to get here," said Tigers' head coach Rob Flanagan, "but they played big, Lamb was outstanding, and they had multiple kids make shots behind the arc."
"I'm very proud of how my team has played down here. Tonight was the Panthers' night, it's been our night a few times here, I know they'll savor this one and I tip my hat to them."
Brook Pampe, who torched Du Quoin for a tournament-record 30 points on Monday, put in two free throws with 4:58 to go in the first half as his Tigers trailed 14-12, and that's when the Panthers began to make their push.
"(Pampe) and Fehrenbacher are two of the better players in the tournament, we just made a conserted effort to face-guard them, not let them catch and always have a man-and-a-half on them," Waggoner said.
Payton Nippe buried a three from the wing, then tournament MVP Kyle Lamb faked and used the up-and-under move for an easy two with 3:01 to go, resulting in a timeout from the Olney bench.
The Tigers' offense still couldn't manage to stop the bleeding though, and Bryant Shute drove to the hoop for a layup to keep the Panther run going.
"We had a lot of charges, a lot of mishandles of the ball and a lot of that goes to (Pinckneyville's) credit," said Flanagan. "There's a lot of pride here and we knew they would be ready to play tonight."
Steve Brueggeman fed Shute for two more under the hoop and then Lamb took a lob pass with 1:12 left in the half to extend Pinckneyville's lead which stood at 25-14 after two quarters of play.
Queen hit two threes early in the third period as the Panthers looked to turn out the lights on Olney, but Pampe answered with a three of his own to start a 7-0 Tigers run.
Queen wasn't finished, though, draining another from downtown with 50 seconds left in the quarter to restore a 15-point advantage for the Panthers.
Shute and Queen struck again from beyond the arc in the fourth as the Panthers torched the nets with a 62.5% shooting effort (20-for-32) from the field.
"Our defensive pressure really bothered them, they were one-and-done and on our end we came down and really worked inside-out to get open looks," said Waggoner. "It's an easy game when you make shots, and we made shots tonight."
Queen led three Panthers in double digit scoring with 14 points, Shute and Lamb both added 13. Brueggeman finished with 7, Shopinski and Nippe 5 each. Pampe led Olney with 10 points.
Queen joined Lamb on the DTHC All-Tournament Team for the Panthers. Rounding out the team were Du Quoin's Connor Wheeler and Sam Gossett, Olney's Michael Fehrenbacher and Brook Pampe, Steeleville's Andrew Pokrzywinski, Benton's Caleb Suver and Red Bud's Jacob Kueker.
"I thought our guys really took care of business in each of their games and gave themselves an opportunity to get off of their legs and to be fresh," said Waggoner. "I think tonight Olney got a little tired, I noticed their point guard didn't have as much bounce in his step and their shots were coming up a little bit short because of fatigue, but it was also because of our defense."
Queen also led all shooters with a minimum of seven three-point attempts by making 12-of-19 trifectas for 63% in the tournament.
The Panthers (7-4) are now off until January 4 when they host Waterloo at Thomas Gymnasium (7:45 p.m.).
<u>Pinckneyville 79, MEL 50</u>
The Panthers got into the championship by taking care of Metro East Lutheran 79-50 in the 11:30 a.m. game, making a spectacular 22-of-24 free throws in the contest.
"I thought pressuring Metro East Lutheran into 19 turnovers was big," said Waggoner, "causing them a lot of trouble getting into their offense early, wearing them down, coming out with energy in the third and extending that lead and giving us a chance to play some subs there in the fourth quarter."
Pinckneyville scored the first eight points of the game including three-pointers from Queen and Shopinski and the Panthers were in control 16-4 after one.
The Knights needed a 7-0 run early in the second quarter to stay in it, then Josh Jump connected on a three with 5:03 to go in the half to make it a six point game at 20-14.
Brueggeman and Queen drained threes for the Panthers, then Nippe stole it away from the Knights and started a fast break that ended with a layup from Queen and a 30-16 lead.
Pinckneyville started the third quarter with a 7-0 run, then went on an 11-0 spurt later in the period to put the game out of reach.
With under six minutes to go, Waggoner sent his starters to the bench to give them some rest before the championship game at 8:30 p.m.
Shopinski and Lamb led the way for the Panthers with 15 points each, Queen added 12, Shute 9, Luke Miller 8, Hardin 6, Brueggeman 5, Chris Priebe 4, Nippe and Justin Bumann 2 and Keegan Kellerman 1. Jacob Fanshier led the Knights with 17 points.
The Panthers were 7-for-13 from behind the three-point arc with Shopinski knocking down 3-of-4.
Pinckneyville won the rebounding battle 27-20 and forced 19 turnovers by the Knights while committing only 11.
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