BASKETBALL: Panthers solid in victory over Carterville
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Pinckneyville trailed early but got things going in plenty of time to pull away from Carterville 58-39 at home on Friday night, closing our their Southern Illinois River-to-River Conference Mississippi Division schedule at 5-5, good for third place.
"I thought early we missed some easy shots, some free throws and things, but we just kept plugging along and eventually got the lead," said PCHS head coach Bob Waggoner. "Defensively I thought we were pretty solid."
Zach Watson hit a three-pointer and Drew Bonner followed with a conventional three-point play after a Panther miss with 1:48 to go in the opening quarter, as the Lions took a 10-5 lead before leading 10-9 after one.
Steve Brueggeman gave the Panthers a brief advantage with a pair of free throws, but Ryan Bonifield answered with a bucket inside for Carterville. The 12-11 edge would be the last time the Lions held the lead.
Brueggeman drove to the bucket and was fouled with 5:21 to go in the half, then a Lions' turnover led to a Kyle Lamb hoop in the paint. Hunter Queen connected from beyond the arc with 2:16 on the clock, prompting a timeout from Carterville coach Scott Burzynski.
Lamb added a fast break lay-up to wrap up a 10-0 Pinckneyville run with 45 seconds left in the half, but Bonifield kept the Lions in it with an and-one basket just before the break to cut the Panthers' lead to 21-15.
Seniors Brueggeman and Lamb came out firing in the second half, scoring the first eight points for Pinckneyville as they stretched the lead to thirteen before Watson sank a three with 3:28 remaining in the third.
The Panthers answered with another run, this one 8-0, which included a fast break lay-up and a stick-back from Brueggeman, a free throw from Lamb and another triple from Queen.
"At halftime we really emphasized, get (Lamb) the ball. Kyle was doing a great job of posting, we weren't getting him the ball enough," Waggoner said. "I think in the second half we did a much better job of playing through him."
The Lions got no closer than 14 points down from that point on as the Panthers (19-8) won their 19th game of the season on senior night at PCHS. Carterville fell to 11-16, finishing their first season in the S.I.R.R. at 1-9 in conference play.
"Throughout this last month our guard play has improved and I feel that our roles have been a bit more defined and guys have really bought into what it's going to take to be successful," said Waggoner. "I think as a group they've improved tremendously over the last month."
Brueggeman and Lamb each finished with 19 points to lead Pinckneyville with fellow senior Christian Shopinski adding 9. Queen had 6 points, Bryant Shute and Luke Miller 2 and Dylan Hardin 1. The Panthers shot 58% (19-33) from the floor while holding the Lions to 41% (16-39).
"When you think about this group of seniors, they never really tasted success in junior high or their freshman year, now you look at them and they're sitting here with a chance to win a regional," Waggoner said.
"They've done some very good things, the first team to win the holiday tournament here at home and then they won the B.I.T., they've just put together a very nice season so far. We hope it continues next week."
Bonifield had 14 points to lead Carterville, Bonner 9, Watson 8, Logan Mann 4 and Dalton Brown and Michael Aschemann each had 2.
With the regular season now wrapped up, Pinckneyville heads to Sparta for their Class 2A regional beginning on Wednesday night (8:10 p.m.) against Gibault, a team the Panthers lost to 51-36 in Waterloo back in early December.
The Lions, meanwhile, will take on the regional host Herrin Tigers on Wednesday at 8:10 p.m. at HHS.