BASKETBALL: Offense sputters down the strech for Panthers at Carterville

CARTERVILLE, IL - The SIRR Mississippi Division began conference play last week with two teams expected to be fighting for the top spot facing off in Carterville. Pinckneyville led by as many as seven points in the second half, but it was the Lions coming away with a 41-33 win after a late 17-4 run in a defensive battle.

"It's a pretty simple game, get the ball in and shoot rim shots, or shoot threes," said Pinckneyville head coach Bob Waggoner. "Who's going to win? The team that gets the ball closer to the basket. They got the ball closer to the basket, they won."

The win was the fourth in a row for the Lions, who beat the Panthers for the first time since moving to the conference a few seasons ago.

"We just wanted to compete," Burzynski said, "we knew that every possession was going to be a grind. There weren't going to be many easy shots, there weren't going to be many open shots. I'm just thrilled for our kids. It was a fun locker room tonight."

"We knew it was going to be a physical game. Pinckneyville is Pinckneyville, and our kids really responded today. This was a good night for the Lions."

Neither team led by more than four points in the first half, but the Panthers started the third quarter with six straight to jump ahead 24-17. Sterling Bejma banged his way inside for two, Luke Miller scored a lay-up after a steal, and Dylan Hardin took advantage of another Miller steal on a pull-up jumper with 4:31 to go in the quarter.

After Burzynski called for a timeout, the Lions responded by holding the Panthers scoreless the rest of the period while tying the game in the process. Tyler Horn got the ball deep in the post for an easy bucket to start the comeback, and Carterville clawed to tie at 24-24 after three.

The Lions' big second-half run continued in the fourth quarter where Horn scored 6 of his 10 points and Blake Watson hit 7-of-10 free throws.

"We came in knowing we were going to try and get the ball inside," said Burzynski. "We knew it wasn't going to be easy, Pinckneyville wasn't going to let us just throw it inside and catch. We knew that we had to execute a little bit and move the ball, and I think our high-low worked a little bit."

The Panthers, meanwhile, went over seven minutes without scoring and couldn't capitalize on the return of Hardin, the 2011-12 All-SIRR senior guard who had missed Pinckneyville's first six games of the season recovering from a torn labrum.

"(Hardin) did ok," said Waggoner, "he's got to score more, he's got to be more aggressive. At the defensive end, I didn't think he played as well as he could have. It wasn't like he was going to be the cure-all pill, the other guys had to step up and we didn't have very many guys step up and play. We made way too many unforced turnovers, just not a very good all around game."

Hardin led PCHS with 16 points off the bench, Miller added 6, Chris Priebe 5, Bejma 4 and Caleb Dahn 2.

"You've got to be able to shoot the ball," Waggoner said. "Give Carterville a lot of credit, their defense was very good."

Watson led Carterville (4-2) with 11 points, Horn had 10, Matt Galik and Matt Bigelow each with 7, Will Galik 3, Travis Kidd 2, and David Eaton 1.

"Tyler Horn was big," said Burzynski. "We had a little bit of a mismatch there and the guards did a very good job of getting him the ball, and Tyler turned and he scored."

Pinckneyville (4-3) takes on Anna-Jonesboro in the home opener at Thomas Gymnasium this Friday night.