Elsah, IL— The Principia Men's Basketball team played host to the Westminster College Blue Jays in their latest SLIAC matchup this evening. This game would turn out to be very competitive throughout, but some second half defensive struggles from the Panthers would prove to be their undoing as the Panthers would fall to the Blue Jays by a score of 87-93.
The Panthers backed by a big home crowd this evening, looked to get off to a hot start in this one and protect their home court in this SLIAC matchup. Sophomore
Payton Sellers would get the scoring started tonight for the Panthers as he would connect from deep with a long 3-pointer, but the Blue Jays' Landon Harrison would respond with a 3-pointer of his own, and the teams would be off to the races after that. After the quick score from Sellers, the Panthers would struggle to find a rhythm on the offensive end, but a lay-up from Senior
Brennan Paulson would end the scoring drought for the Panthers, and bring the score to 9-5 in favor of the Blue Jays. For the next few minutes of the half, the lead would go back and forth between the two teams as both were unable to distance themselves and hold a lead for very long. With 4:10 remaining in the half, Sellers would knock down another 3-pointer to give the Panthers a 34-33 lead, but Westminster would respond with a 7-4 run to end the half and head into the locker room with a 41-38 lead over the Panthers.
Coming out of the half, both teams once again struggled to maintain a lead as each team would make a run that would be quickly squashed by a run from the other team. At the 14:01 mark, Westminster would eventually start to build a lead as some poor defense from the Panthers coupled with some untimely turnovers would result in the Blue Jays jumping out to a 57-49 lead, their largest of the game. Now down by double digits, the Panthers found themselves backed into a corner, and needed some type of run to get themselves back in to this game. Sophomore's
Clark Davidson and
Zack Matters would come up big for the Panthers as Davidson would find Matters two different times for corner 3-pointers that would get the crowd back into the game, and the Panthers back to within just seven points. With 6:29 left in the half,
TreVaughn Goodman would finish a lay-up to bring the Panthers to within four points, and the Panthers seemed to have all the momentum as the game entered the final five minutes. The Blue Jays would not go away however, as they would connect on a couple of tough jump shots, and after having to foul for most of the final few minutes, the Panthers comeback bid would come up short as they would fall by a score of 87-93.
Good to Know— The Panthers had a well-balanced scoring effort this evening as four of five starters finished with double digits. Sophomore
Payton Sellers led the way with 19,
AJ Byrd finished with 17,
TreVaughn Goodman finished with 15, and
Clark Davidson finished with 10.
Up Next— The Panthers will travel to St. Louis to take on the Webster University Gorloks in their next conference matchup this Saturday afternoon at 3:00 pm.
