BASKETBALL: Dylan is Thrillin' - Hardin's 25 lead Panthers to title
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[With the largest crowd Pinckneyville's Thomas Gymnasium has seen all season long on hand, the Panthers won their fourteenth consecutive game and wrapped up a Class 2A Regional Championship with a 50-45 victory over Trico on Friday to march into this week's Sectional at Eldorado.
Pinckneyville junior Dylan Hardin played a nearly-flawless game, sinking 11-of-13 shots for 25 points to lead all scorers, most of them coming on pull-up jumpers as the Pioneers held a size advantage inside and held the Panthers to just a pair of three-pointers in the contest.
"Coach (Waggoner) told me just jump up and shoot it every chance I got, and it went in," Hardin said. "I don't know how to explain it, it just went in."
Hardin's effort also drew praise from both head coaches.
"He's a triple threat offensively," said Panthers' head coach Bob Waggoner, "he can shoot the three, he can drive it, and he can post. He's a tough matchup, and he was the best player on the floor tonight."
Trico head coach Shane Hawkins, a member of PCHS's 1994 State Championship team, also gave Hardin a nod while acknowledging that the Panthers have too many options to shut down everything.
"I thought Dylan Hardin was just phenomenal tonight, we couldn't keep him out of the middle of the floor," Hawkins said. "We made a concentrated effort on not letting (Hunter) Queen go hit two or three threes in a short span of time - and then the game's over, just by the flow."
Both teams showed a bit of jitters early in the game with the raucous crowd in attendance, each turning the ball over twice in the opening two minutes of a 9-9 first quarter stalemate. Neither team led by more than four in the first half, and Hardin's corner three with a minute left put the Panthers up 18-15 at the break.
Shots began to fall in the second half, however, as both the Panthers and Pioneers were able to match or beat their first half point total in the third quarter alone.
Hardin pulled up for two jumpers and a seven-point PCHS lead to start the period before the teams traded points on thirteen straight possessions. Again it was Hardin, this time cutting to the goal for a layup, who scored with two ticks remaining in the third to give the Panthers a 36-31 edge.
A key point in the game came after a Pioneers' miss with about four minutes to play when the Panthers had a six-point lead and the basketball. Pinckneyville was able to run almost two minutes off of the clock before Trico started to use up their fouls and eventually send Chris Priebe to the line with 1:54 to go.
"We were so gassed, and they shoot free throws so well, and they had all the right guys out there," Hawkins said. "I wasn't sure we were going to be able to last much longer, I thought if we could drain the clock a minute maybe we could kind of revitalize. Who knows if it's right or wrong, but the way they shoot free throws, you can't foul. We were trying to get up and get a steal, but they pass it well enough that they weren't going to make those mistakes."
Priebe hit the pair, then following a Trico turnover, Payton Nippe knocked down two at the line. Daron Meyerhoff fought to keep the Pioneers' season alive with two tough, contested three-point balls, but his effort would not be enough, and Queen and Hardin both tacked on points at the charity stripe for PCHS in the final minute.
"They had a heck of a decision to make," said Waggoner. "Were they going to come foul us, or were they going to let us keep running clock. They hadn't been in that situation. They probably let a little bit too much time go off the clock, then the possessions shortened and that's when they had their turnovers."
The Panthers never trailed after Trico led 9-7 in the opening quarter. The defensive trio of Priebe, Nippe and Keegan Kellerman shouldered the load of guarding Trico's big man Chase Heins, who was held to nine points despite his size advantage in the paint.
"I thought defensively our effort on Heins and (Dylan) Witthoft was what determined the game," Waggoner said. "Late in the game Meyerhoff got loose a little bit and knocked down some tough shots, but overall it was our defensive pressure on those guys that really dictated the tempo."
"We said all along we were going to guard our post with three, we're going to make sure that we had two different guys guarding on Meyerhoff and Witthoft to wear them down, and then make the other guys make plays, and their other guys didn't make very many plays."
Priebe joined Hardin in double figures with 10 points, and also like Hardin, did most of his damage with the mid-range game.
"(Pinckneyville) is not going to have a breakdown after two or three ball reversals, you're going to have to have some patience," said Hawkins. "We got the ball where we wanted, we got the shots we wanted, we just couldn't buy one. Then they go down and you have to guard for 45 seconds and Priebe hits a jumper, or Hardin gets to the middle of the floor and hits a jumper."
"They got to the rim a little bit, but they hit a lot of jumpers. You've got to give something up. We thought it would be best if we backed up a step and didn't just get cut on all night. I thought we did a pretty good job defensively, it was just Hardin that we couldn't guard."
Hawkins was making his first visit to Thomas Gym to take on Pinckneyville as a coach after crossing paths with them in the 2006 Carbondale Holiday Tournament. The '06-07 Pioneers came into that game unbeaten at 15-0, but were humbled with a 65-46 thumping by the Panthers and head coach Dick Corn - Hawkins' coach in 1994.
Queen (5 points), Bryant Shute (4), Nippe (2), Kellerman (2) and Justin Bumann (2) also scored for Pinckneyville. Meyerhoff led Trico (25-6) with 20 points.
The Panthers (25-4) will take on Olney on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. in Eldorado, a rematch of December's third place game at the Duster Thomas Hoops Classic at PCHS. Pinckneyville took the win in that game 45-33.
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