Wheaton, IL—The Principia Men's Basketball team traveled up to Wheaton to take on the Wheaton Thunder in their first road game of the season. The Panthers knew this would be a tall task to overcome as Wheaton made it all the way to the national semifinal the previous season, but the Panthers came out ready to play. The team battled throughout and showed an incredible amount of grit and toughness, but when the final buzzer sounded the Panthers fell 90-71.
The Panthers got off to a strong start tonight and silenced the large Wheaton crowd as senior TreVaughn Goodman finished a tough lay-up to give the Panthers the first score of the game, and a jumper from sophomore Payton Sellers kept the Panther momentum going. Wheaton responded with two baskets of their own and the two teams settled in after that. Throughout the first half the Panthers did an excellent job keeping the big men of Wheaton off the offensive glass and were much more disciplined on the offensive end as they worked through their sets and got the shots they were looking for. With 9:42 left in the first half, sophomore Kevin Wingert tipped in a missed Panther layup to bring the Wheaton lead to just nine as Wingert had by far his best half so far this season. The Panthers never let the Wheaton lead get higher than 12 throughout the half, and two free throws by Goodman brought the Thunder lead to ten as the teams headed into the locker room for halftime.
Coming out of the half the Panthers' game plan was to continue to execute on the offensive end while also digging in on the defensive end and chip away at the Thunder lead. The Panthers did just that as Goodman converted a pair of layups to bring the Panthers within six just 40 seconds into the half. The Thunder responded however, and after a couple of sloppy defensive possessions by the Panthers the Wheaton lead stretched to 14 with 17 minutes left in the game. For the rest of the half the Panthers were never quite able to get over the ten-point hump and were unable to string together multiple stops whenever they would score. In the end the depth and experience of the Thunder proved too much for the Panthers and they eventually fell 90-71.
Good To Know—The Panthers were once again led in scoring by Goodman with 21 points to go along with 10 rebounds, but the Panthers also had seven different players score in last night's contest. Clark Davidson poured in 17, Sellers got 9, AJ Byrd and Brennan Paulson had 7, Wingert had 6, and Nathan Brantingham had 4 to finish out a well-balanced attack for the Panthers tonight.
Up Next—The Panthers will play in the consolation game of the Lee Pfund Classic in Wheaton, IL against Franklin College at 5:30 pm tonight.
