Carlinville, ILL. -- The Principia Men's Basketball team traveled to Carlinville, IL to play their 14
th conference game of the season versus Blackburn College. Both teams came into the game tied in the conference standings at 7-6. Principia was able to win the first matchup at home 80-66. Blackburn came on a mission to tie up the series and took advantage of the Panther's worst offensive half of the year to win 53-74 in favor of the Beavers.
The Panthers came out the worst possible way, starting the game with 3 turnovers and 3 missed layups.
TreVaughn Goodman was finally able to will in a layup to give them their first bucket 4 minutes into the game. The Panther's shaky start offensively seemed to stick with them for the majority of the half as turnovers and missed shots continued. Blackburn was able to take advantage of the struggle and slowly build a lead. Near the end of the first half Blackburn had some hot shooting from three point land and was able to knock two consecutive threes in just before half. Principia had its worst offensive half of the season and only scored 14 total points, putting them in a 21 point hole heading to the locker room.
Principia started the second half with much better energy and determination, and a layup by
Parker Davidson off of a
Micah Paulson assist cut six points off the lead just a few minutes into the half leading to a Blackburn timeout. Principia's offense started to click but unfortunately they couldn't get stops defensively. Blackburn was able to hit some timely shots every time the Panthers made a run and held a steady lead throughout the second half. The second half was played dead even as both teams scored 39 points each. Principia played extremely hard in the second half but could not come up with enough to overcome the giant first half deficit ultimately losing 53-74.
He said it:
"We came out flat as a team in a game that was really important to us as far as conference standings go. It was a struggle to make shots on the offensive end and we couldn't overcome a first half deficit. With all that said we have 4 games left with no more room for error. With our backs against the wall, this is something we have faced before and we look forward to the challenge."
      ~Senior-
Parker Davidson
Up Next:
The Panthers will be on the road versus Eureka College Tuesday February 6
th at 7pm.
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