Elsah, IL – The Principia Panthers took on the Westminster College Blue Jays in a SLIAC battle that featured two teams both in need of a win. The Panthers came into this game hoping to build off of some confidence built in their last conference matchup, but Westminster would ultimately take this game by a score of 68-47.
The game started out very evenly matched with both sides trading blows early on. A quick basket by freshman
Clark Davidson was answered with a jumper from Carter Wands of Westminster, and then junior
Brennan Paulson would drill a 3-pointer after Westminster had taken the lead with a 3-pointer of their own. For most of the first half, the two teams traded baskets and the lead, with neither team seeming to gain an advantage over the other. With 7:20 left in the first half,
Brennan Paulson hit a 3-pointer that put the Panthers in the lead 23-21, but after a quick Westminster 3-pointer of their own, the Panthers would not hold the lead again.
For the last five minutes of the first half, the Blue Jays tried to open up a lead on the Panthers, but the Panthers showed a resilience and fight that kept the Westminster lead to only 7 heading into halftime.
The second half mainly belonged to Westminster as they were finally able to begin to break away from the Panthers. Coming out of the half, a 3-pointer and jumper by Collin Caywood stretched the lead to 12 points for the Blue Jays, and it never seemed like the Panthers were able to recover. To their credit, the Panthers showed their no quit attitude once again in this contest and fought until the very end. Senior
Evan Eisenauer came into the game with about 10 minutes left and his grind it out attitude was a much-needed spark for this team throughout the last few minutes of the game. His fellow senior
Micah Paulson continued his balanced scoring throughout the contest and showed hustle and heart from the point guard position all night as well.
The game ended with the Westminster Blue Jays taking the win on the road over the Panthers with a final score of 68-47.
Good To Know
In what was a low scoring night for the Panthers,
Micah Paulson once again lead all scorers with 24 points as he continues to light up the score board each and every night
Next Up
The Panthers will travel down to St. Louis to take on the Webster University Gorloks in their next SLIAC matchup this Saturday. The game is scheduled to start at 3:00 PM.
