BOYS BASKETBALL: Panthers hold off Meridian at BIT
The two favorites at this year's Benton Invitational Tournament squared off on Wednesday night at Rich Herrin Gymnasium, and it was the Panthers from Pinckneyville hanging on to beat Meridian 70-65 despite being outscored 31-18 in the fourth quarter - when PCHS didn't make a single field goal.
Some late three-pointers by the Bobcats, and some late missed free throws by the Panthers, made the game closer than it probably should have been in the end. That being said, Pinckneyville was solid at the line for the majority of the final period, making 18-of-24 at the stripe.
"We had a pretty nice run at the free throw line," said Panthers head coach Bob Waggoner. "We missed a few late, but we got it back together. Overall it was just a very good ball game."
"(Meridian is) a good ball club. They're athletic, they're big. I thought in the first half we really controlled the tempo, had a chance to push the lead even higher than what it was, but give them a lot of credit. They made a run late, and we didn't do a very good job of getting the ball stopped."
Nolan Luke's three-pointer less than a minute into the game gave the Panthers a 5-2 lead and Pinckneyville would not trail again the rest of the night, but as indicated by the final score, it wasn't easy.
PCHS led by as many as ten in the first half and by eight at the break, but the Bobcats crawled back to within five shortly after halftime.
But every time Meridian made a push, the Panthers answered.
Tristan Fisher stretched the lead back to a dozen with a three-pointer midway through the third period, and Luke scored inside shortly thereafter to make it a fourteen-point lead.
Meridian then cut the lead back down to nine before Brian Taylor banged home a three, and the Panthers led 42-30.
Tyler Rulevish's three gave the Panthers their biggest lead of the night at 49-31, but Meridian's Tyrone Nesby (son of the former Cairo Pilot, UNLV Runnin' Rebel, L.A. Clipper and Washinton Wizard of the same name) converted a three-point play to answer. Luke then answered that triple with one of his own to close out the third quarter with the Panthers up 52-34.
Once again, the Bobcats responded with a run. They had outscored the Panthers 14-3 in the fourth after a stickleback and two free throws by Caylen Ballard with just under four minutes to play.
"They had problems guarding us, we had problems guarding them late," Waggoner said. "(Meridian's David Davis) is a fantastic ball player. What's very underrated about them is how well they pass the ball. Their pressure is tremendous, they really get after it, and they turned us over a few times. We got a little tired too.
Pinckneyville had enough left in them to finish the job, though, as Fisher (9-for-12), Taylor (5-for-6) and Luke (3-for-4) combined to shoot 17-for-22 at the free throw line in the final eight mintues.
Fisher led the way for Pinckneyville with 19 points, Luke added 17, Taylor 10, Adam Banach 6, Justin Bauersachs 4 and Jackson Brand 2. Davis led Meridian with 17 points.
Pinckneyville (16-4, 2-0 at Benton) will continue the hunt for their tenth B.I.T. championship in the last eleven years when they take on Hamilton County in the 9:00 p.m. game on Friday night.