BASKETBALL: Vandalia ends PCHS boys' streak
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Sub-par ball handling and unforced mistakes finally caught up with Pinckneyville on Saturday as the Panthers fell 44-40 at Vandalia after tying the score with 3:18 to play but failing to come up with a basket down the stretch when they needed one.
"I told our guys if we'd have won this game, we'd have stolen it, because (Vandalia) deserved it," said PCHS head basketball coach Bob Waggoner. "I thought they out-played us, I thought they were the tougher team, I thought they were the aggressor."
"They did the things offensively to keep patience and make us play defensively and shot a lot of easy shots."
Payton Nippe sank a three with 2:00 to go in the opening quarter to tie the game at 6-6, but the Vandals went on a 9-1 run into the second quarter that gave them a 15-7 lead on Dathan Berning's drive to the basket for two.
Kyle Lamb took a nice feed from Steve Brueggeman and finished strong to spark a 7-0 Pinckneyville run in response, but just before the half Marty Johnson was left open for a deep three-pointer that beat the buzzer for a 20-16 Vandalia lead.
"If you're not going to listen to (the scouting reports), if you're not going to follow them, if you don't have faith in them, then we're not going to be very successful," Waggoner said. "When we tell you that a kid is a dead-on three-point shooter and he is their best player, and you leave him at the half, that's what happens."
The Vandals threatened to pull away early in the third, scoring the first seven points of the half including two conventional three-point plays, one from Johnson and another from Leyton Godoyo.
Nippe connected on another three with 2:20 to go in the third, but Berning and Johnson answered with a pair of trifectas for the Vandals.
Down 36-25, the Panthers looked to muster one last run as Queen scored the final five points of the third on a three-pointer and a pair of free throws. Nippe added a rebound and putback early in the fourth, and Brueggeman cut to the hoop for two as Pinckneyville's 9-0 run cut the lead to just two points.
Tied at 38-38 with under three minutes to go, Berning went 2-for-2 at the line before a Panther turnover set him up for another trip to the line, this time converting only the first attempt.
Lamb's stick-back with 14.2 seconds to go cut the lead to a single point and Johnson made 1-of-2 to make it 42-40, but Queen missed on his drive to the hoop and the Panthers were called for another foul fighting for the resulting loose ball.
"We got out-hustled, out-rebounded, every loose ball when you have an opportunity to get it and you don't get it that means you're effort's not as good as the other team's," Waggoner said.
Hosik nailed both free throws with 3.4 seconds on the clock to make it a two-possession game and put an end to Pinckneyville's six-game winning streak.
"We still are making too many mistakes that we made early in the year and not getting better," Waggoner said. "If you don't get better, then you're going to get passed by. We'd won a couple games in a row, but we haven't gotten better."
Lamb led the Panthers with 11 points, but didn't get the ball nearly as often as he needed to for the Pinckneyville post attack to be effective.
"I'm not sure if (Vandalia) kept Lamb out of the offense or our passers kept Lamb out of the offense," said Waggoner. "When you're open, and you can't deliver the ball, then it's not the defense. We didn't get him the ball, that's not on him."
Nippe finished with 9 points, Queen and Bryant Shute each had 8, Brueggeman 6 and Dylan Hardin 3. Johnson led the Vandals with 12, Berning and Godoyo each had 10.
Pinckneyville out-shot Vandalia 42% (13-31) to 35% (11-31) from the floor, but the Vandals went to the free throw line nine times more than the Panthers, making 19-of-26 (73%) in the game.
The Panthers (9-5, 2-2) face another long road trip next Saturday against a potentially even more dangerous opponent - class 2A's top-ranked team in the state of Illinois, Teutopolis (13-1).
<u>Panthers notch SIRR win over Sparta</u>
SPARTA, IL (GNS) - On Friday night, the Panthers moved to 2-2 in conference play by knocking off Sparta 59-39 despite 29 turnovers by the offense.
"I thought that when we didn't turn it over we got good, open looks but sometimes those seemed to be few and far in between," said Waggoner. "The big key tonight was our defensive effort, we really bothered them and didn't give them free looks."
Free throws and a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Jordan Thompson kept the Bulldogs in it at halftime down 32-22, but the Panthers clamped down defensively late in the game and pulled away with a 20-11 fourth quarter.
"I thought defensively in the second half we were pretty good. Hunter Queen was as good on the perimeter as anybody we've had guard this year," Waggoner said.
Brueggeman led the way with a game-high 23 points, his second straight 20-plus point effort after 21 against Waterloo on Tuesday.
"If he would finish around the basket, get a little more balance around there, he could be getting 30 (points)," said Waggoner. "He's a great free throw shooter, he's a good, good shooter when he's left open and he's playing pretty well."
Nippe finished with 8 points, C.J. Opp 7, Hardin and Lamb 6, Shute 5, and Queen 4.
Sparta was led by Aaron Rushing's 14 points. The Bulldogs played without center Wesley Kiner who sat out with an injury.
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