Louisville, KY—The Panther Men's Basketball team traveled to Louisville to take on the Spalding Golden Eagles in their latest conference matchup of the season, still seeking their first win in SLIAC play. The Panthers came up just short in a back and forth contest which was ultimately decided on the final shot, as they fell to the Golden Eagles by a score of 80-78.
The Panthers got off to somewhat of a slow start in this one when the Golden Eagles came out shooting the ball well, falling behind by five early. Troy Amanor connected on a lay-up and Marcus Montgomery connected from deep to put the Panthers in an early hole just two minutes into the game. The Panthers did settle down however, and just a minute later sophomore Clark Davidson put together a nice post move to get the scoring started. TreVaughn Goodman and Payton Sellers each connected on lay-ups of their own on the next two possessions, and the Panthers held their first lead of the game. Throughout the first half, the Panthers used a myriad of different defenses to slow the Golden Eagle attack and force a low scoring game, as defense was the calling card of the first 20 minutes. As the first half started to wind down, senior Brennan Paulson slashed through the lane and connected on a floater to send the Panthers into the half down by just two points, 38-40.
Coming out of the half, the Panthers wanted to continue to force Spalding to take tough shots and convert on the offensive end, and for the first part of the second half they were able to do just that. Sellers hit a deep three-pointer on the Panthers first possession to give the team an early 41-40 lead in the half, but Spalding converted their next possession and the Panthers fell right back behind. The Golden Eagles continued to stifle the Panthers on the offensive end throughout most of the half, and with eight minutes left the Panthers found themselves down by 12, their largest deficit of the game. For the next few minutes the Panthers slowly chipped away at the Spalding lead, and conversions on the offensive end along with stingy defense on the other end allowed the Panthers to cut the lead to just two points after another Sellers three-pointer with 32 seconds remaining. Following a timeout, Spalding ran the clock down to 10 seconds before Davidson jumped a passing lane and stole the ball to race down the court on a fast break. Sellers hoisted up a three-pointer as time expired, but it came up just short and the Panthers lost a heat-breaker in Louisville, 78-80.
Good to Know— All five starters for the Panthers scored in double digits this game as Clark Davidson had 11, Brennan Paulson chipped in 11, AJ Byrd had 13, and Payton Sellers scored 16. TreVaughn Goodman led the Panthers in scoring in this one as he recorded 20 points to go along with 6 rebounds and 6 assists.
Up Next—The Panthers will be home for their next conference matchup on Tuesday night at 7:30 pm when they take on the Greenville University Panthers. See you there!
