Mount Pleasant, IA—The Principia Panthers traveled to Mount Pleasant, IA to take on the Iowa Wesleyan Tigers in their latest SLIAC matchup. The Panthers struggled defensively most of the game, and the fast-paced Tiger attack proved to be too much as the Tigers took the contest by a score of 87-70.
The Panthers got off to a quick start in this one with two quick lay-ups from Junior
Brennan Paulson and Freshman
Zack Matters, and then a 3-pointer from senior
Micah Paulson pushed the Panther lead to 7-2 only two minutes into the game. The Tigers would immediately respond with a scoring flurry of their own and a lay-up and free throw from big man Austin Rebel would pull the Tigers to even at 7-7 with the Panthers just a minute later. A quick 4-0 run from Freshman
Clark Davidson put the Panthers back up by 4, but once again their lead would be short lived. Iowa's Jake Neubauer responded with a 5-0 run by himself, and the Tigers would take a 12-11 lead on the Panthers, and that would be the last lead the panthers would hold all game.
With 8 minutes left In the half, Iowa Wesleyan had built their lead to 14 points, and it looked like the Panthers had no answer. Struggling on the offensive end, the Panthers could not seem to buy a basket for a stretch during the half, but this resilient team would not go into halftime quietly. Slowly but surely the Panthers started to cut into the lead, and a well-timed 3-pointer from
Brennan Paulson brought the Tiger lead down to 12, and gave the Panthers some momentum heading into halftime.
Coming out of the break, the Panthers wanted to capitalize on the momentum from their run to end the first half, but a quick bucket from the Tigers seemed to take all of the energy out of the Panthers that they had come out of the half with. Iowa Wesleyan would take a 20 point lead before a corner 3-pointer from big man
Clark Davidson would stop the scoring drought for the Panthers. The rest of the half would solely belong to the Tigers as the Panthers just could not seem to quite get over the big run that Iowa Wesleyan had started the half with. At the final buzzer, Iowa Wesleyan would take this SLIAC matchup by a score of 87-70.
Good To Know
Even though the Panthers did not have their best offensive day, the scoring was seen throughout the lineup as 4 of the 5 starters scored in double digits tonight, with
Micah Paulson returning to his usual scoring ways as he poured in a game high 24 points tonight.
Up Next
The Panthers will play their next conference matchup in Jacksonville, IL as they take on the MacMurray College Highlanders this Saturday. The game is scheduled to start at 3:00 pm.
