Panthers earn way into consolation finals

The District 5B tournament held over the weekend proved what many of us already believed: it is very tough to win with the strong teams in the district. Both of the Panther teams won two games and lost two games in the three-day tournament and both ended up in the Saturday night action. Only two teams travel to the divisional tournament this year out of 5B and that really made it tough to advance. 

The Panther boys started the tournament on Thursday with a game with Manhattan. The two teams were tied in conference standings and had split in head to head games during the year. Noah Fader put the Panthers up 3-0 50 seconds into the game, and the Panthers took a 9-7 lead with baskets by Josh Eckmann and Hayden Guisti late in the quarter. Manhattan tied it at 9 at the end of one and hit a three starting the second. Lincoln Leary answered for the Panthers when he connected on a pair of free throws and the teams stayed close, with Eckmann finishing the half with a three to give the Panthers an 18- 16 halftime lead. The third was slow with both teams struggling to find the range. Once again Eckmann ended the quarter with a three, and the Panthers held a 24-21 lead going into the final quarter. The Panthers were up 34-31 with 1:17 left, so the Tigers were forced to try to steal and ultimately foul, and the Panthers took full advantage. Eckmann came through on the free throw line, hitting 5 of 6 to make it 40-31 with 26 seconds left. The Tigers hit a three at the 13 second mark to make it 40-34. Those final 13 seconds were packed with action. Eckmann sank two more free throws, Manhattan buried a three, and Eckmann collected two more free throws to give the Panthers a 44- 37 victory. Eckmann hit 9 of 10 free throws in the last 52 seconds to keep the Panther lead and ended up with 28 points in the fine performance. Fader chipped in 11, Guisti and Leary 2 each, and Bryce Harrington 1. 

BOYS MOVE INTO FRIDAY GAME WITH TROJANS The Panther boys found the going tough in their game with Whitehall. Right off the bat Josh Eckmann was called with a charge, Whitehall put in the first nine points, and the Panthers called time out. After regrouping, the Panthers got three points from Fader. The Panther defense held the Trojans to three points the last 4:44 but the offense had trouble making up the distance, and Whitehall led 12-6 after one. The Panther shooting woes continued in the second; six of the 10 Panther points came in the last 1:36 of the quarter with Mead Blake, Nolan Sonsteng and Britton Peterson putting in the Panther points. At the half the Trojans were out front 29-16. Guisti got the Panther scoring started in the third and the JHS boys trailed by 11, 34-23, after free throws by Fader and Eckmann. That didn’t last long, though, as the Trojans knocked down back to back three pointers to end the third up 40-23. Three pointers by Peterson and Eckmann trimmed the lead to 44-29, but that was as close as it would get, with Whitehall taking the win 54-34. Fader was the Panther scor- ing leader with 11 points. Peter- son added 9, Eckmann 7, Blake, Guisti and Payton Loveridge 2 each and Sonsteng 1.