Fulton, MO—The Principia Men's Basketball team traveled to Fulton, Missouri to take on the Westminster College Blue Jays in their latest conference matchup of the season. The Panthers hoped to get back to their winning ways in the first conference matchup of the new year, but a stout Westminster offense and some defensive lapses from the Panthers proved too much to overcome as the Panthers fell to the Blue Jays by a score of 81-94.
The Blue Jays got off to a hot start in this contest when Ethan Thompson and Emil Spriggs both connected from three-point land, and a lay-up from Spriggs gave the Blue Jays an 8-0 lead before the Panthers could catch their breath. Sophomore AJ Byrd responded for the Panthers with a deep three-pointer that got his team on the board for the first time. After some back and forth scoring for the next few minutes the Panthers made their way back into the game. Following a lay-up from Senior TreVaughn Goodman, the Blue Jay lead had been cut to just four points with 10 minutes remaining in the half. The next five minutes saw the Blue Jays capitalize on poor defense and stretch their lead to as many as 14 points after two free-throws from Steph Campbell, but the Panthers soon responded with a run of their own. A beautiful corner three-pointer from sophomore Kevin Wingert with 11 seconds left cut the Blue Jay lead to just four as the teams went into the locker room at halftime.
Coming out of the half, the Panthers were focused on trying to stop the Westminster attack and continue to shoot the ball at an efficient percentage as well. Westminster started the second half with a tough three-pointer after some great defense from the Panthers, but after two free throws from sophomore Clark Davidson on the other end it seemed like the Panthers were starting to hit their stride. With 16 minutes left in the half a three-pointer from sophomore Zack Matters cut the Blue Jay lead to just two points, though that was the closest the Panthers got to the lead for the rest of the game. Westminster slowly began to pull away, and when the final buzzer sounded the Panthers fell to the Blue Jays, 94-81.
Good to Know—AJ Byrd led the way for the Panthers tonight as he had 24 points to go along with 4 rebounds and two assists. TreVaughn Goodman also had a nice game for the Panthers as he posted a double-double with 16 points to go along with 11 rebounds.
Up Next—The Panthers will be at home for their next conference matchup as they host the Webster University Gorloks in Elsah next Tuesday night at 7:30 pm. See you there!
