BASKETBALL: Shorthanded Panthers struggle to score at Waterloo
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Playing an hour from home with a short bench, without their top scorer, and against a taller, lengthier team, the Pinckneyville Panthers could not avoid the potential disaster that faced them in Waterloo on Tuesday night as the Bulldogs walked away with a 35-28 win.
The Panther lineup was missing leading scorer Hunter Queen, who was diagnosed with a case of mononucleosis and will miss an undetermined amount of playing time.
"It's just one of those things where we never were comfortable, we didn't get fluid offensively," said Pinckneyville head coach Bob Waggoner. "We've got to do a better job of understanding some roles and continue to improve. Hopefully in the next 48 hours we can fix some things."
Neither club shot the ball particularly well, but Waterloo center Justin Kretchmer, a 6'6 junior that placed fourth in the 2011 IHSA state high jump finals, played a big role in the Panthers' dismal field goal percentage with several key blocks.
"How about giving him a shot fake, how about giving him a little up-and-under move, how about an inside pivot," Waggoner said, "do something original instead of just turning around and letting him block your shot."
"You have to be willing to make those changes, you have to be intelligent enough to understand how the game is going to be called, and we didn't do a very good job of that."
Both teams found points hard to come by, and Waterloo led just 22-21 heading into the fourth quarter where the Bulldogs finally began to hit some shots while the Panthers continued to struggle.
Jake Augustine's three-pointer with 4:57 to go made it 28-23 Waterloo, and the Panthers suffered through a five-minute drought without a single point as the Bulldogs pulled away at the free throw line.
"We had a lot of good looks, we didn't shoot it very well," Waggoner said. "You've got to get the ball in the basket. I didn't think we were very aggressive offensively, and when things are not going, you've got to get lay-ups and we didn't do a very good job of doing that."
Pinckneyville's Dylan Hardin was the only player in double figures with 11 points. Payton Nippe added 9 for the Panthers, Bryant Shute 6 and Justin Bumann 2. Zachary Dhom led Waterloo with 9.
The Panthers (10-3) have little time to prepare before returning to action this Friday in a Southern Illinois River-to-River Conference Mississippi Division showdown with Du Quoin at Thomas Gymnasium.
"We've got to get better, and we will," said Waggoner. "I guarantee we will give a much better effort on Friday."
The two teams enter the game as the only Mississippi squads remaining without a conference loss.
Queen's bout with mononucleosis will keep him out in the immediate future, and symptoms of the illness (including fatigue) can linger anywhere from three weeks to three months, putting this month's Benton Invitational Tournament in doubt for the senior guard.
Freshman Caleb Dahn also missed Tuesday's game, suffering from flu-like symptoms.
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