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BASKETBALL: Panthers wear down Anna-Jonesboro

Posted February 06, 2012 10:00 pm

Doug Daniels

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[After eight minutes, Pinckneyville's Friday night home game with Anna-Jonesboro appeared to be well on its way to being over with by halftime as the Panthers had sprinted to a 20-6 lead.

The Panthers would have to work for it though, allowing A-J back into the game with a 17-6 second quarter before clamping down defensively late in the game as the Wildcats wore down in a 53-38 victory for PCHS.

"We rotated a lot of guys and kept fresh legs on the floor," said Panthers' head coach Bob Waggoner, "but the biggest thing was our effort wasn't consistent after the first quarter."

"If we would have continued to play with that much energy and enthusiasm, then the game wouldn't have even been close, but we had a little letdown and thought it was going to be easy, and give Anna credit for fighting back and giving themselves a chance in the ballgame."

Hunter Queen had a pair of three-pointers and Bryant Shute had another during Pinckneyville's impressive opening quarter, but the Panthers scored just six points in the second and led 26-23 at the break.

The deep ball continued to fall for PCHS in the second half, however, as Queen, Shute, and Payton Nippe all hit from downtown in a two-and-a-half minute span in the third quarter. Queen added his fourth triple with 5:48 left in the ball game, part of a 9-0 run by Pinckneyville that extended their lead to 51-36.

"I think C.J. Opp, Luke Miller and Justin Bumann gave us a big lift in that second half," Waggoner said. "C.J. is one of our more intelligent ball players, he understands angles, he understands where the next pass needs to be and he really led us there in that fourth quarter."

The Panthers outscored A-J 19-5 over the last 12:20 of the contest and won their 20th game of the season, a feat they have now reached in all five of Waggoner's seasons at the helm and nine straight overall dating back to the Dick Corn era.

Nippe led three players in double figures for PCHS with 13 points, Shute and Queen each had a dozen. Miller, Opp and Chris Priebe each had 4 points, Bumann and Dylan Hardin both had 2. Pinckneyville had just 8 turnovers in the game.

"That's the mark of our team, balance. Any kid on any night can lead us in scoring," said Waggoner. "Tonight they were playing a little matchup zone and we hit some threes on them."

"We really emphasize taking care of the ball. I think you can look at any stat you want, but the most important thing is that you don't turn the ball over, give yourself a chance to score, and we've been pretty good at that."

Over the weekend, the Panthers also learned the pairings for their upcoming Class 2A Regional Tournament, hosted at Thomas Gymnasium starting on February 20. As the top seed, Pinckneyville will begin play on Wednesday Feb. 22 against the winner of the Red Bud-Sparta quarterfinal (Mon., Feb. 20, 6:00 p.m.).

This week, the Panthers (20-4) host Nashville on Friday night before traveling to Du Quoin on Saturday.

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