Pinckneyville advances to regional finals
The Panthers came into the Trico regional semifinal as the top seed Tuesday night, and they showed exactly why. <br />Pinckneyville pushed the pace early and were able to cruise to a win over Vienna, 63-38, led by senior forward Tyler Rulevish who finished the game with a team-high 22 points. <br />Vienna was overwhelmed in the first quarter, as the Panthers jumped out to an 8-0 lead two minutes in, with a pair of three's from J.C. Moll and Grant Jausel, followed up by a putback from Alex Howard.<br />Vienna responded with its first points of the game on a pair of free throws from Lucas Strickland.<br />The Panthers went right back to work, as Rulevish capped off a 9-0 run with a pair of makes from the charity strike, extending the lead to 17-2 with two minutes left in the first. <br />Eagle forward Trenton Hyde put an end to the run with a three-pointer from the wing, but that would be the extent of Vienna's first-quarter offense. <br />Pinckneyville closed out the quarter on another run, scoring six unanswered with Howard knocking down a layup in transition right before the buzzer to give his team a commanding 24-5 lead heading into the second. <br />Vienna managed to slow down the Panther offense in the second, but still struggled to find an answer to their defensive pressure. <br />Rulevish traded baskets with Vienna three times to open the second, knocking down his third layup of the quarter to keep the Panthers ahead, 30-12. <br />Rulevish followed up shortly after with a three-pointer from the top of the key to extend the lead further, 33-13. <br />The Eagles were able to mount some momentum to close out the second, stringing together a 5-0 run, knocking down 3-of-4 free throws to close out the first half trailing, 33-18. <br />But, Vienna would fail to make any serious comeback attempt, with the Panthers extending the lead even further early in the third, 41-22, with three's from Rulevish and Hunter Clark. <br />The Panthers closed out the third with a dominant 47-25 lead and never looked back, cruising in the fourth quarter to a 63-38 win. <br />Pinckneyville (28-2) will play for a shot at the regional championship Friday night against the winner of Du Quoin and Chester who square off tonight at 7 p.m.