BASKETBALL: Sophomores pick up slack for Pinckneyville
PINCKNEYVILLE, IL - On a night when their two leading scorers both finished with a goose egg in the points column of the stat sheet, it was Pinckneyville's talented group of sophomores that carried the Panthers to a crucial 39-31 home win at Thomas Gymnasium over Sparta on Friday night.
Aside from senior Luke Miller's 5 points (4 on fourth quarter free throws down the stretch), all of Pinckneyville's points came from sophomores. Caleb Dahn got the start with Sterling Bejma sitting at home sick and took full advantage of the chance to shine, leading the Panthers with 14 points.
Dahn's partner in crime from back in their #204 Tigers junior high state championship days, Brian Taylor, added 11 points for PCHS.
"Our guys did a great job of stepping up," said Panthers' head coach Bob Waggoner. "We played the second half without Dylan (Hardin) and with Brandon Edwards on a bad ankle, so we had a lot of things going against us tonight physically. At the same time we overcame it because I think our mental toughness really played through."
Hardin suffered a rib injury in the first half and finished without scoring, as did Chris Priebe, who picked up a couple quick fouls in the opening quarter and had to take an extended sit on the bench.
In the absence of their offense, the youth movement filled the void for Pinckneyville.
Dahn was handed the task of guarding Sparta's Aaron Rushing after Priebe took a seat and managed to keep him in check for most of the night while the rest of the defense did their job of denying entry to the post. Phil Lockhart, who averages double figures for the Bulldogs, scored just one point and was almost completely shut down by another Panther sophomore - Tristan Fisher, who finished with 7 points.
"Tristan Fisher, the job he did on Lockhart tonight was phenomenal," said Waggoner. "It was the first time I've seen anybody be able to keep him in front of them, be able to keep him from getting on the glass. As a team our defense was great on their interior guys, it's a complete team effort."
"I expect all those (sophomores) to play like that," he continued. "I think one of the hardest things for a young player that's never really been put in that situation to do is to be pushed, and to be expected to do it all the time and realize that there's a maturity that goes with being a varsity player. I think they're finally grasping the fact that they can do it."
Pinckneyville held Sparta to just two points in the second quarter, a pull-up jumper by Brenden Wilson with over six minutes to go in the half. Fisher hit a three and Dahn scored from deep in the post, giving the Panthers a 17-11 edge at the break.
The Bulldogs fought back in the third to briefly grab the lead at 22-21, but nine straight points by the Panthers in the fourth - four from Miller, five from Taylor - along with lock-down defense made it too difficult for Sparta to keep up.
"I think overall our team chemistry and our team confidence is getting better," said Waggoner. "We didn't play extremely well. I think Sparta's length bothered us a little bit on some shooting, but at the same time I think defensively, following our game plan, we were about as good as we could be."
Nolan Luke had the other 2 points for PCHS, which made just 8-of-24 free throws in the contest. Rushing led the Bulldogs with 12 points, but had only 6 of those after making a pair of free throws with 3:14 to go in the opening quarter.
Hardin is expected to suit up for Pinckneyville despite his injury at the Benton Invitational Tournament this week. The Panthers will be in search of a once unthinkable ninth consecutive 5-0 championship at the annual mid-winter tournament held at Rich Herrin Gymnasium.
PCHS (11-7) meets the host Rangers on Monday at 9:00 p.m.