ELSAH, IL – After a season opening win against UHSP, the Principia Panthers were looking to go 2-0 in a regional D3 matchup against the Dominican University Stars. Dominican and Principia both came into the game with a 1-0 record thus far in the young season. After a relatively even first half, Principia got into an offensive rhythm in the second half and made a scalding 21 out of 27 shots on their way to 57 second half points and the 93-65 victory.
An opening 3-pointer by the Stars gave Dominican a 3-0 lead, but the Panthers responded with a quick 11-0 run that was capped with a 3-pointer by
Payton Sellers. The rest of the first half was back and forth, as Dominican was able to tie up the game at 29-29 with 2:30 left in the first half.
Kevin Wingert came off the bench and had a huge first half, including a 3-pointer with 2 minutes left in the half to put the Panthers up by three. Wingert had a team-leading nine points in the first half, propelling Principia to a 36-31 halftime lead.
Principia came out hot in the second half, and never took their foot off of the gas. The Panthers started off the half with a 3-pointer from
Jake Kampf to give them a 39-31 lead, and never looked back. Principia dominated offensively, shooting 77.8% from the field and put the game out of reach.
With 11:08 left,
Clark Davidson scored his 1000th point of his Principia College career on a feed from
Jaquan Adams. Davidson came into the game needing 17 for 1000 and finished with 21 and 12 rebounds, leading Principia in both categories.
The Panthers were able to get in everyone that dressed for the second straight game, and
Jake Erickson was able to get the final bucket of the game with 13 seconds left, giving Principia the 93-65 victory. It was a total team performance as the bench contributed an impressive 31 points in the win.
Good to Know: Scoring 1000 career points is an unbelievable accomplishment, and
Clark Davidson reached this milestone today with a layup at the 11:08 mark of the second half. Davidson joins his brother Parker Davidson in the Principia 1000 point club, and will look to climb the leader board in the last season of his career.
Up Next: The Panthers play at Illinois College on Tuesday, November 15th at 7:00 pm. Last season Illinois College defeated Principia in Elsah, 73-56. Principia will look to show off their improvements and enact some revenge against Illinois College in what looks to be a great matchup.
