Principia Finishes Hawai'i Trip With Strong Victory Over Pacific

After a disappointing loss yesterday to the UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs, Principia College men's basketball needed a bounce back performance tonight. Facing a tough, 8-1 Pacific University squad on the 2nd game of a back-to-back, the odds were clearly stacked against the Panthers.
    
However, having the odds stacked against them is an environment in which Principia thrives and tonight was no different. Pulling together with a strong, gutsy performance, the Panthers scraped out a thrilling 82-79 victory over Pacific.
  
Led offensively by a rampant TreVaughn Goodman, Principia were able to put up 82 points, quieting at least a few of the scoring concerns that have popped up recently. In addition to Goodman's game-high 34 points, Parker Davidson contribute 18 points, while Micah and Brennan Paulson put up 12 and 10 points respectively.
  
The game started off well for Principia, with the Panthers going up early and leading by as much as 6 points. But the Boxers battled back and settled into a nice offensive and defensive groove, eventually holding a 38-28 lead with 1:46 left in the 1st half.
   
However, the Panthers were able to close the half on a 6-2 run thanks to a pair of key Brennan Paulson 3 pointers. Although Paulson wouldn't contribute much offense other than that on the night, those two buckets allowed Principia to enter the locker room with a decent degree of confidence and helped the halftime deficit only be 6 points, a far cry from the 23 point halftime mountain that the team faced yesterday against UC Santa Cruz.
    
In the 2nd half, PC came out balling. After shooting only 39% from the floor in the 1st half, the Panthers shot 50% in the 2nd half, led by Goodman's 24 clutch points down the stretch. The sophomore guard out of Plantation, Florida was unstoppable, converting what seemed like every single drive he took to the basket into an easy bucket. Nobody could guard #0 in white all night long and he took full advantage of it.

In addition to that, Principia went 15-20 from the free throw line, good for a 75% mark, well above the team's season average of 65%. Highlighted by clutch makes from the charity stripe within the final minute by Goodman and Jeff Ross, the Panthers made good on their free points and that helped them ice away the win.
   
Tonight's victory leaves the Panthers at 3-6 on the season and full of confidence heading into a week long break before the team's next game against Millikin University on December 30th.
   
"I think tonight's win summed up our motto of loving the brotherhood," senior captain Parker Davidson told me. "Our team as a whole has been struggling to find a rhythm and confidence and it showed during the first game of this trip. Today's game really showed the resiliency and mental toughness of our team and I think it was a huge step for us to win this game."
    
As head coach Todd Zimmerman pointed out after the game, being able to play hard on the 2nd end of back-to-back games is one of the hardest things to do in basketball and the Panthers executed with incredible resilience and spirit to be able to pull out the win over Pacific. Going 1-1 in Hawai'i is nothing to really hang your hat on, but that one win sure means a lot more than it looks like.
    
Tonight's game concluded the playing portion of the team's trip to Hawai'i, but stay tuned for updates about what the squad is up to over these next two basketball-free days.