Box Score Elsah, IL—The Panthers wanted to start the conference season strong this year and tonight, they did just that. Behind a balanced offensive attack and strong defense the Panthers took down Spalding 65-54 to win the their home and conference opener.
The Panthers scored the first bucket of the game on a
Justin Ball jumper. After that Spalding was able to convert on back-to-back buckets and took a 5-2 lead. The Panthers then responded with an 8-0 run highlighted by a pair of buckets from junior
Parker Davidson. Once the Panthers took the lead they never gave it back. The two teams would battle back and forth until a 10-2 run from the Panthers keyed by
Micah Paulson and
Parker Davidson three-pointers as well as a couple of layups from freshman
TreVaughn Goodman.
The Panthers continued to build the lead as the first half wore on and moved it to 10 with 42 seconds left. The Panthers then forced a turnover and were able to inbound the ball with 6 seconds left. Goodman caught the ball in the backcourt and went the length of the court to finish a tough layup in traffic as time expired to ignite the crowd and give the Panthers a 12-point lead heading into half.
Coming out of the break Anumu hit a 3-pointer to give the Panthers a 15-point lead, the largest they would have in the game. Spalding continued to fight though, and eventually cut the lead to 7 with 10 minutes left. The Panthers then got another spark from Goodman as he came off the bench and got a big "and 1" followed by an Anumu layup to push the lead back to 12.
With 5 minutes left Spalding, again behind Trisko, was able to narrow the gap to 5. With the Panthers struggling
Micah Paulson was able to take over and score back-to-back buckets including a tough step back 3-pointer with a man on him to give the Panthers a lift and move the lead back to 10 points.
Spalding was forced to foul coming down the stretch and the Panthers converted on enough free throws to maintain the lead and finish the game with an 11-point victory.
The Panthers had four players in double figures and were led by Anumu's 16 points and Davidson's 14 points and 9 rebounds. Paulson chipped in 14 points and Goodman collected 12 off the bench.
Up next the Panthers have another home conference tilt against Webster. The game will tip-off at 2 pm.
