The Principia College Panthers traveled to Jacksonville, IL for their 12
th conference game of the season versus the MacMurray College Highlanders. Both teams desperately needing a win and both playing extremely good basketball coming into the match. Unfortunately for the Panthers a slow first half start could not be overcome and they would fall 74-72 to MacMurray.
The game started out extremely rough for Principia as MacMurray came out confident and hot from outside the arc. As the Panthers struggled to find the basket the Highlanders were lights out from downtown, hitting the majority of their shots. In the early minutes of the first half Principia was knocked down and was faced with a 19 point deficit. In the final 10 minutes of the first half Principia played solid, by starting to get stops on defense and score on the other end, they were able to scrape back into the game. With the last possession of the first half the Panthers had a chance to cut the lead to single digits, but a turnover leading to a layup pushed the lead to 12 points for MacMurray heading into halftime.
In the second half Principia came out with much better focus and energy and quickly set the tone. Stingy and long defensive possessions by the Panthers allowed them to get out and run and get back into the game. There was no one home run play but one possession at a time the MacMurray lead began to shrink. The Highlanders would not give up as they would push back a little bit each Principia run.
In the final 2 minutes of the game the Panthers trailed by 9 points but refused to be done. They turned up the pressure defensively in an attempt to get a steal but ended up sending the opposing team to the free throw line. On three consecutive possessions the Panthers were able to hit 3 point shots following MacMurray trips to the free throw line. With 3 seconds left in the game down just two points a last second heave off of a MacMurray missed free throw was no good. An incredible comeback fell just short as the Panthers lose 72-74.
Tale of Two Halves
In the first half the Panthers shot just 32% from the field and 9% from three point land. In the second half they shot 53% from the field and 54% from three. In the first half MacMurray hit 9-16 from three while in the second 0-4.
Panthers found another balanced scoring effort with four players in double digits.
Micah Paulson led the way with 26 points, while
Parker Davidson had another double-double with 11 points 10 rebounds.
Up Next
The Panthers are right back at home here in Elsah, IL vs. Westminster College Tuesday January 30
th at 8pm. Â
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