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BASKETBALL: Minimum Eight-peat: Panthers go 5-0 at BIT, again

Posted January 23, 2012 10:00 pm

Doug Daniels

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Pinckneyville was either tied or trailing in the fourth quarter in each of their final three games at the 2012 Benton Invitational Tournament, but the Panthers were still able to will their way to victory in all three contests and run their unbeaten streak at the B.I.T. to 40 games with their eighth straight 5-0 title.

There were times in each of the Panthers' three games between Friday and Saturday night that the streak appeared to be in serious jeopardy, but head coach Bob Waggoner never lost confidence in his team despite the circumstances.

"I always thought we were going to win," Waggoner said, "I always think our kids are going to find a way to win."

"This one's pretty special. Next year, I don't know what will happen, but I know this: This is a record that's never going to be broken again."

Perhaps the biggest scare came not against state-ranked Okawville on Friday night that ended up being between the first and second place teams in the tournament, but against Sesser-Valier in the 7:30 p.m. game on Saturday night. The Red Devils won just one game at Rich Herrin Gymnasium during the 2012 B.I.T., but had the Panthers down 51-50 with 18 seconds to play in the game.

That's when Chris Priebe got open inside and put the Panthers ahead by one, but missed an opportunity for a three-point play at the free throw line. Sesser's Kyle Stanley drew a foul with 8.8 seconds to go and hit the first of two free throws to tie the game at 52-52, then missed the second and Pinckneyville came away with the rebound.

A court-length pass sailed over the head of Hunter Queen, however, turning the ball back over to Sesser-Valier with a chance to win with 5 ticks remaining on the game clock.

With the length of the floor to go, the inbounder for the Devils attempted to lob his pass over the head of Bryant Shute just a few feet from the near baseline and paid for it with possibly the most costly turnover of the entire tournament.

Shute leaped up and snatched the pass out of the air and headed for the basket, drawing a foul with 2.5 seconds to go and putting the Panthers on top with the first free throw.

"(Shute) made a pretty good play to get (the ball)," Waggoner said. "He made a nice read, reacted, and went right to the rim and got fouled. Here's the biggest part of it, he struggled with his free throws this morning, and hit a big one early (tonight)."

"Right there, he hit that first one, and then we knew they were out of timeouts so we had him miss the second one. It just shows the toughness of a kid to go in there and make that type of play."

Shute shared the team high of 13 points against Sesser with Payton Nippe. Dylan Hardin (8 points), Queen (6), Luke Miller (4), Justin Bumann (3), C.J. Opp (2) and Keegan Kellerman (2) also scored for Pinckneyville.

The Panthers (17-4) now get a few days off before jumping back into Southern Illinois River-to-River Conference Mississippi Division play at Carterville this Friday night.

"Our legs are gone," Waggoner said. "The big thing is we played probably the three best teams (in the tournament) the first three days, not to take anything away from Sesser or (Hamilton County), but it took a lot out of us."

"I didn't realize how much (the Okawville game on Friday night) took out of us until today. I knew in our walkthrough, our kids were hurting. We need a couple days off to get our stuff back."

Hardin, Nippe and Queen each received all-tournament honors for the Panthers. Rounding out the B.I.T.'s all-tourney team for 2012 were Benton's Cody Smith and Trey Garrett, Carlyle's Cody Huels and Jordan Smith, Okawville's Jeremy Weeke and Taylor Walton, and Sesser-Valier's Tim Witcher.

<u>Panthers knock off AP No. 2 Okawville</u>

Many circled Friday night's 9:00 p.m. contest between then 2-0 Pinckneyville and Okawville as the "championship" of the 2012 B.I.T. despite both teams having two contests remaining on Saturday.

The matchup didn't disappoint one of the tournament's biggest crowds, as the pair of favorites swapped runs during a frantic second half before the Panthers prevailed 61-57, shutting down the Rockets' post game for the majority of the evening.

"Our kids did a great job of pressuring the ball," said Waggoner. "Post defense starts on the perimeter, we pressured the ball well, we didn't let them get in comfortable areas and we rotated well."

The Rockets had control after a 10-0 third quarter run put them up 33-32 headed to the fourth, but counting out the Panthers in Rich Herrin Gym is anything but a wise decision.

Priebe scored in the paint to spark a 7-0 Pinckneyville spurt to start the fourth, and Nippe tallied a three-point play with 6:24 to cap off the run with the Panthers up 39-33.

Hardin cut in for a lay-up with 4:10 to go, then Bumann drove for a lay-up moments later before a technical foul was called on Okawville's Jeremy Weeke that broke the Rockets' backs.

"I thought that our kids really responded when (Okawville) made their little run and got after them," Waggoner said, "they didn't like that second push we gave them there in that fourth quarter."

Queen sank four straight free throws and the Panthers led 49-37, but Okawville refused to go away. The Rockets closed to within two at 55-53 with 49.3 seconds to play following a 16-4 rally, but Pinckneyville made enough free throws to stay out in front.

"We really contested things and caused them problems," said Waggoner. "They didn't get open looks until the very end when they broke us down a little bit, but you know, that's human nature. You relax, and that's something we can work on in practice."

Hardin's 16 points led the way for PCHS against Okawville, Queen added 12, Priebe and Nippe 8, Bumann 7, Shute 5, Miller 3, and Opp 2.

<u>Foxes force OT, but can't stop 'The Streak'</u>

Back at Benton for the 2:00 p.m. game on Saturday after beating Okawville the night before, Pinckneyville needed overtime to knock off Hamilton County, the only team at the 2012 B.I.T. that went home without a win.

The Panthers outscored the Foxes 17-9 in the extra frame to stay perfect at Benton, making seventeen consecutive free throws from the 4:04 mark of the fourth quarter on through the OT.

Ham-Co led 45-42 a minute into overtime, but scored just four points the rest of the way while the Panthers pulled away at the charity stripe. Priebe was 6-for-6 at the line in OT.

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