Box Score Elsah, IL—In an early season conference showdown the Panthers fell to the Webster Gorlocks 65-62 this afternoon at home. The game was back and forth with the Panthers leading at the half but the Gorlocks built a lead midway through the second period and never gave it back.
The game started off with back-to-back buckets by Webster's forwards Hunter Ward and Evan Milligan. The Panthers then called a timeout and exploded on an 8-0 run. The run started with a
Justin Ball layup and was finished by back-to-back 3-pointers by sophomore
Micah Paulson and senior
Adaku Anumu.
At the 10:12 mark Webster had pushed the lead to 16-10 after a 3-pointer from Adam Etter. Paulson then responded with a 3 of his own followed by a jumper from Anumu. The teams traded baskets the rest of the half with no one being able to gain a lead of more then 3 points.
With about a minute left in the first half freshman
TreVaughn Goodman got into the paint and dropped a pass to
Jeff Ross who slammed it home to ignite the crowd and give the Panthers momentum and a 3 point lead heading into the break.
Jeff Ross scored the first bucket of the second half but after that Webster started to build a lead on a steady diet of buckets from Ward and Dortch. The Gorlocks controlled and got a 9-point lead with 11:40 left. The Panthers kept battling back however and cut the lead to 3 with a couple of free throws from Goodman with 8 minutes to go. The Panthers then got a stop and had multiple looks on offensive to tie the game or cut it to one but couldn't convert. Webster then came down and hit a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 6.
Webster kept pushing and got the lead to 8 with a score of 60-52 with just over a minute to play. Anumu was able to knock down a deep ball and Paulson hit a layup but Webster converted on free throws late and the Panthers could never claw back.
The Panthers were led by Anumu who 22 points on 5-9 from the 3-point line an Paulson who put together a 19 point 7 rebound 4 assist line.
Justin Ball led the team with 5 assists and 11 rebounds while Ross contributed 8 points and 5 rebounds as well. The team is now 1-1 in conference and 2-4 overall.
The game featured 8 lead changes and two ties. The Panther were able to out-rebound the Gorlocks 36-34 and shot better from the field but had 14 turnovers to Webster's 8. Webster was able to convert on 21 points off the turnovers and Webster's bench also outscored the Panther's bench 27-4.
Up next the Panthers travel to Iowa Wesleyan on Tuesday to play their first conference game away from home. The Tigers are 2-0 in conference after beating Blackburn today on the road.
