BASKETBALL: Pinckneyville winning streak at five
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Now 5-0, the Pinckneyville Panthers boys varsity basketball squad put forth another strong weekend with a 52-34 home win over conference foe Carterville on Friday and a 55-44 non-conference Saturday night victory in Carbondale over Monticello as part of the SIU Saluki Shootout.
Friday's win kicked off Southern Illinois River-to-River Conference Mississippi Division play for the Panthers, and they wasted no time pulling away from the Lions in the early-going.
Blake Watson got Carterville's first basket with 3:44 to go in the opening quarter to make it 4-3 in favor of the Panthers, but the Lions were never that close the remainder of the night.
A 10-0 Pinckneyville run followed, and after free throws from Payton Nippe and Chris Priebe the Panthers were ahead 18-5 with 3:28 to go in the first half.
Carterville chipped away to trail by eleven at the break, but a 23-8 third quarter for Pinckneyville ended the Lions' threat.
"I thought we came out with good intensity and played well defensively early, and then eventually our offense started to catch up," said PCHS head coach Bob Waggoner.
"We're struggling a little bit with our offensive identity, knowing the difference between a good shot, who should shoot it, what makes it a better shot for this person than someone else."
Hunter Queen led three Panthers in double figures with 13 points against Carterville. Joining him were Nippe (11) and Dylan Hardin (11). Bryant Shute finished with 7, Priebe 6, Keegan Kellerman and Devan Downard 2.
PCHS sophomore Chase Lazenby made his varsity basketball debut in the game.
On Saturday, the Panthers met up with Monticello of the Okaw Valley Conference in the 6:00 p.m. game of the first Saluki Shootout at SIU Arena.
Pinckneyville built a 14-4 lead early on and never looked back, allowing the Sages to get no closer than seven points the rest of the game.
Nippe sank a pair of three-pointers for the first six Panther points, and a baseline drive and layup by Luke Miller made it 8-2 after five minutes had gone by. Monticello called for timeout and got a stick-back bucket from Nick Stokowski, but then Pinckneyville's defense started to clamp down.
Shute fed a pass between defenders to Priebe for two, then a pair of Sages' turnovers led to layups for Shute and Queen to complete a 6-0 run that took just 20 seconds.
Free throws kept Monticello close, as the Sages were sent to the line for 20 attempts, making 19 of them for 95%, but in the end they could not find enough field goals and the deeper Panthers kept them at a distance.
"It's hard to play through that foul trouble," Waggoner said. "Give Monticello credit for making their free throws, they just got to the line."
"Overall we did a very good job of taking care of the ball and playing through different lineups we're not used to. It's just nice to come away with a win."
Pinckneyville led 39-31 heading to the fourth when Queen buried a triple to set the momentum for the final frame.
"We got a little tired and our pressure wasn't as great, but overall it's a good weekend for us," Waggoner said.
Nippe's 11 points were a team-high for PCHS against Monticello, Hardin had 10, Queen 9, Miller and Priebe 8, Kellerman 5 and Shute 4.
The Panthers (5-0) have a big weekend ahead as they travel to Mississippi rival Anna-Jonesboro on Friday, then to Herrin on Saturday.
The IHSA also released regional assignments over the weekend and the Panthers will be hosting Trico, Chester, Nashville, Sparta and Red Bud at Thomas Gymnasium come playoff time.
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