Elsah, IL—The Principia Men's Basketball team played host to the MacMurray College Highlanders in a SLIAC matchup as both teams entered their final week of play for the 2019-2020 season. The Panthers were coming off of a narrow loss to Greenville over the weekend and were looking for a bounce back win over the Highlanders in front of the home crowd this evening. A back and forth affair saw the Panthers come away victorious in this one by a score of 80-77.
The Panthers got out to a quick start in this one as both
TreVaughn Goodman and
Clark Davidson would finish beautiful moves in the paint to give the Panthers a quick 4-0 lead, and have the team feeling good early. MacMurray would eventually find their footing however, and would respond with a quick 4-0 run themselves, and both teams would settle into the game after that. For most of the first half, both teams would either score at will against the opposing defense, or fall into somewhat of a scoring slump, which resulted in neither team really being able to establish a lead as the half wore on. With 4:00 left in the half, MacMurray's Russ Crifasi would finish a lay-up on the fast break giving the Highlanders a 5-point lead, their largest of the game. The Panthers would finish the half on a high note though as Senior
Brennan Paulson would get fouled on a jumper with 6 seconds left in the half, and after converting one of two free throws at the line, the game would be tied at 35 as the teams made their way to their locker rooms for halftime.
Coming out of the half, the Panthers wanted to really dig in on the defensive end, and not let the Highlanders continue to get easy points like they had for most of the first half. Early on in the half they were able to do just that, as MacMurray was unable to create any type of lead on the Panthers, and the Panthers slowly but surely started to find their footing as the half went on. The biggest moment of the game for the Panthers came with 6:16 left in the second half, with the Panthers trailing by three points. After a goaltending call the play before,
Payton Sellers caught the ball on the wing and drove down the lane, throwing down a thunderous dunk over a MacMurray defender that got the entire crowd on their feet, and gave the Panthers a huge boost of momentum as the final minutes of the game approached. The Panthers locked in on the defensive end for the rest of the game, and as the final buzzer sounded, the Panthers would come away victorious in this one by a score of 80-77.
Good to Know—
TreVaughn Goodman led the way for the Panthers this evening as he poured in 27 points to go along with 10 rebounds and 3 assists.
Payton Sellers finished with 16 points to go along with 4 rebounds, and
Kevin Wingert finished with 13 points.
Up Next—The Panthers will be home for their final game of the season this Saturday afternoon as they host the Fontbonne University Griffins at 3:00 pm. Come out and support our two seniors,
Brennan Paulson and
TreVaughn Goodman as they play their final game in a Panther uniform!
