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BASKETBALL: Panthers' defense tames Tigers in Sectional semifinal

Posted February 29, 2012 10:00 pm

Doug Daniels

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[When you take something away from the Pinckneyville Panthers, they just find other ways to beat you.

Justin Bumann came off the bench to score 11 points and hit two big three-pointers late in the game to help propel Pinckneyville past Olney 38-30 and into Friday night's 2A Eldorado Sectional Championship at Duff-Kingston Gymnasium.

"Right now everybody knows what you're going to do, players have to make plays. Tonight it was Bumann," said Panthers head coach Bob Waggoner. "The thing I've said about this team all year long is somebody different steps up every night and it was no different tonight."

Olney head coach Rob Flanagan and his staff clearly were paying attention to last Friday's Regional Championship in Pinckneyville, where Dylan Hardin led the Panthers with 25 points in a victory over Trico. Hardin went scoreless on Tuesday, but the attention he drew allowed Bumann and Hunter Queen to combine for six threes in the defensive war.

"If you're going to take one thing away," Waggoner said, "when you're a team and you have team players, that's going to open something else up for somebody."

Olney got out to a 7-2 lead before Waggoner had seen enough and called for timeout with 3:54 left in the opening quarter.

The Tigers wouldn't score again for what seemed like an eternity.

Queen buried his first of three triples to make it 7-5 Olney after one period, then Chris Priebe was left alone at the top of the key for a deep two that tied the score early in the second.

Bumann and Queen followed with threes, then the Tigers turned it over with 41 seconds left in the half to give Pinckneyville the opportunity to hold for the last shot. Payton Nippe found the bucket for a 15-7 Panther lead just before the break.

After Queen's third three-pointer, Flanagan called for timeout - the third such attempt the Tigers' bench made at stopping their fourteen-minute-plus scoring drought. Michael Fehrenbacher finally took the lid off with a step-back three with 5:30 to go in the third quarter that seemed to spark some life back into the flat-lining Tigers.

Nippe worked a give-and-go with Bumann for a lay-up and a 22-14 edge, then PCHS had a chance to hold for one near the end of the third period, but Joel Eagleson stole it away and went the distance for a last-second lay-up.

Feherenbacher scored the next six points of the game, finding his way inside and getting Priebe into foul trouble. His three-point play with 4:32 to go tied the score at 22-22.

Bumann then buried two threes, sandwiched around a triple from Olney's Alec St. Pierre. Bryant Shute, scoreless to that point, then started a streak of ten consecutive makes at the free throw line for Pinckneyville.

Chance Madden's three with 1:07 left got the Tigers within two at 30-28, but they would get no closer as Priebe, Bumann and Shute all were clutch at the line for Pinckneyville.

"We're playing with a lot of confidence," Waggoner said. "Confidence means you're going to make (those free throws) and our guys have worked really hard to do that."

Neither team shot the ball well from the floor (the Panthers had just five two-point baskets all night), but Waggoner was happy with the way his players ran the offense.

"I thought we had pretty good shot selection," he said, "I thought our kids shared the ball well."

Bumann was the only Panther in double figures, Queen added 9 points, Priebe 8, Shute 6 and Nippe 4. Fehrenbacher led the Tigers with 11.

Late in the game, Queen took a hard foul near the goal and had to leave with a left wrist injury (non-shooting hand). His status for Friday remains unknown, but initial reports indicated that there was not a broken bone.

Pinckneyville (26-4) puts their fifteen-game winning streak on the line Friday night at 7:30 p.m. in Eldorado as they look for number sixteen in the sweet sixteen against the winner of Wednesday's other Sectional semifinal between Harrisburg and Benton.

Panther fans can purchase advance tickets to the game on Thursday. Season chair seat holder sales begin at 5:00 p.m., season bleachers at 5:30, and general admission at 6:10 at PCHS.

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