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BASKETBALL: Christopher sends PJHS home

Posted January 30, 2012 10:00 pm

Doug Daniels

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Ten days after narrowly escaping Pinckneyville Junior High School with a two-point victory on the Junior Panthers' senior night, Christopher finished the job and eliminated PJHS (District #50) from the 2012 postseason with a 43-30 win in Saturday's Regional Championship at CHS.

The Junior Panthers never led in the game and no player finished in double figures while the Junior Bearcats built off a 7-0 run to end the first half by putting the contest out of reach with an 18-9 third quarter.

The game looked like it could be over quick with Christopher up 10-2 in the early-going, but Pinckneyville made a charge with seven straight points at the end of the first period and start of the second.

During that stretch, however, the Junior Panthers missed 4-fo-5 free throws which would have given them an opportunity to grab the lead. Kaeleb Pedigo buried a three-pointer for the Bearcats before the half that seemed to knock the win out of the Panthers' sails.

Turnovers and second-chance buckets for Christopher spelled doom for PJHS in the third quarter, as every time they found the bottom of the net, the Junior Bearcats would respond.

The victory makes Christopher the Champions of Region 3 and sends them to this week's SIJHSAA Class M State Tournament at Rend Lake College in Ina, Ill.

Clayton Houghland led PJHS with 8 points, Jackson Brand added 5, Dylan Carns 4, Miles Chandler 3, Brian Kling, Nick Cannon, Caulden Lazenby and Hunter Hicks each had 2, and Cale Jausel and Justin Bauersachs finished with 1. Josh Diercks and Brady Louis also saw action for the Junior Panthers.

Trevon Brown had a game high 11 points for the Bearcats, Josh Calloni and Pedigo each added 9, Luke Winget 8, Gabe Schimpf 4 and Aaron Sisk 2. Hunter Wheeler did not score, but was a key component of the Christopher attack dishing out several key assists.

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