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BASKETBALL: Not tonight - Panthers' BIT streak rolls on

Posted January 17, 2012 10:00 pm

Doug Daniels

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[It had been 2,914 days since the Pinckneyville Panthers last took a loss at the Benton Invitational tournament heading into Monday's matchup with the host Rangers - and it will be at least two more.

Pinckneyville led the entire game from start to finish and for the eighth straight year began their B.I.T. with a win, knocking off Benton 43-33 with tenacious defense and a spark from the return of guard Hunter Queen, who had been out since the Duster Thomas Hoops Classic with mononucleosis.

"It's going to be a long week, but it's nice to get that first one," said Bob Waggoner, who is now 21-0 at the B.I.T. as head coach of the Panthers. "I think a lot of people doubted we'd get that first one tonight, and I'm very happy for our kids because that defensive effort was fantastic."

Bryant Shute got a shooter's bounce on his buzzer-beating jumper to end the first quarter and the Panthers led 14-8. Shute had seven of his nine points in the opening frame.

Pinckneyville still led by six at the half, and despite a number of opportunities to extend their lead in the third quarter, the Panthers instead went cold from the floor and allowed the Rangers to close to gap to 28-26 with 2:31 left in the period.

Dylan Hardin hit a pull-up jumper before the end of the third to make it a four-point edge, then with 6:36 left in the game Queen buried his first three-pointer since December 28 to give Pinckneyville a 33-26 lead.

Tyler Leffler drove baseline for a layup a minute later, but the Panther defense cranked it up another notch in the last five minutes. After Hardin scored with 5:06 to play, a charging foul and a turnover by the Rangers allowed PCHS to score five straight points at a crucial moment of the game and extend their lead to ten.

"We did a really good job of getting in the passing lane and then pressuring the ball," said Waggoner. "We'd watched them on film and their guards really do a great job feeding the post, and we had made an effort that we were really going to get in their hands and fight around and not let (Mason) Childers get the ball in there where he's comfortable."

Hardin led the Panthers in scoring with 12 points, Queen had 10, Shute 9, Payton Nippe 6, Chris Priebe 5 and C.J. Opp 1. Leffler led Benton with 11 points.

The Rangers were playing without senior forward Trey Garrett who was serving a one-game suspension.

"I hate to see them have a player out like Garrett, he's a good player," Waggoner said. "I really think that makes a difference, but at the same time I told our kids we're going to prepare no matter who is playing and we're going to guard them the same way. I think our kids did a really good job of staying focused no matter what the lineup was."

Other results from Monday's B.I.T. action included Carlyle knocking off Sesser-Valier 51-46 and Okawville defeating Hamilton County 59-42.

The 2012 B.I.T. continues on Wednesday night with Pinckneyville (13-4) and Carlyle at 6:00 p.m., followed by Okawville vs. Benton at 7:30 and Sesser-Valier vs. Hamilton County at 9:00.

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