Box Score St. Louis, MO. --The Panthers crawled back from a deficit on the road tonight but couldn't get over the hump and fell late to Webster 70-68.
The Gorloks came out of the gate fast scoring two buckets and grabbing an early lead. The first score for the Panthers came on a free throw from freshman
TreVaughn Goodman. Webster was able to convert on another couple of buckets before junior
Parker Davidson hit a jumper to give the Panthers their first two points from the field.
Through ten minutes of play Webster continued to build a lead and the score sat at 18-8. The Panthers didn't score for four minutes after that allowing the Gorloks' lead to reach 12 before senior
Adaku Anumu stopped the bleeding with a 3-point bucket.
The teams traded buckets over the next couple of minutes until Webster went on another run and was able to get their largest lead of the night which was 14 with three minutes left in the half. The Panthers kept pace for the final stretch with a deep ball from Davidson and a mid-range jumper from sophomore
Micah Paulson. Webster led 37-24 at the break.
The Panthers came out to play in the second half. Paulson got the first bucket of the second period on a crafty floater. The next offensive possession he was able to come down and again get into the middle for a bucket. After giving up a jumper on the other end, the Panthers fired back with a 3-pointer from Davidson and the lead was down to seven points.
Webster didn't let the Panthers in easy though. After the lead diminished to seven, Webster responded with a run to build the lead back to 12. The Panthers, led by Anumu, came back with a wing deep ball and the lead was cut into single digits again. The Panthers didn't seem like they could slash the lead to a smaller margin until the 8:51 mark when they went on a 6-0 run with buckets from Davidson, Ross, and Ball to make the score 54-50.
The teams traded buckets for the next few possessions, but with 4:56 left Anumu hit a 3-pointer and Webster's lead shrunk all the way to one, 57-58.
Just two minutes later the game was tied, but not for long as Webster was able to convent on their next two offensive possessions and built a four point lead. Anumu then got fouled and cut the lead to two with 1:41 left.
After trading buckets again, Webster was at the line with a 3 point lead. Putting in both free throws the Gorloks were up 70-65. On the next possession the Panthers worked the ball until Paulson knocked down a clutch deep ball to cut the lead to two with 11 seconds left. Webster missed the front end of a 1 and 1 and the Panthers had the ball with a chance to win. Unfortunately for the Panthers they weren't able to get a look at the basket and Webster was able to claim a 70-68 victory.
The Panthers got a great game off the bench from junior
Jeff Ross who had 11 points and 8 rebounds. Ball continued his strong play with an impressive all around stat line scoring 14 while grabbing 7 rebounds and handing out 6 assists. Davidson continued his incredible work on the glass hauling in 12 boards and recording yet another double-double with his 12 points. Paulson had 14 points and led the Panthers with 7 helpers.
Up next the Panthers play the Eureka Red Devils at home on Saturday.
