HONOLULU, HI – After defeating Oglethorpe on Saturday, the Principia Men's Basketball team played the Gallaudet University Bison on Sunday looking to finish their Hawaii trip 2-0. Gallaudet, a Division III liberal arts institution exclusively devoted to deaf and hard of hearing students, came all the way from Washington D.C. to play in this tournament.
Early on, Gallaudet frustrated Principia with a variety of defenses that caused discomfort from the Panthers. A disjointed first half from the Panthers had them down 23-21 going into the second. The Panthers began to figure out the variety of defenses being thrown at them midway through the second half and began to take control. Principia finished strong and was able to come away with the 61-51 victory.
Principia started strong and took a 4-0 lead on lay ups from
Jaquan Adams and
Nathan Brantingham. From there, Gallaudet was able to frustrate the Panthers with their vast array of defenses. With 4:47 left in the first half, Gallaudet took their largest lead of the game at 18-12. A three-pointer by
Payton Sellers got the lead back to three and helped Principia gain some footing in the game. A lay up by
Clark Davidson tied the game at 21-21, but Gallaudet got a lay up of their own as the half ended to give the Bison a 23-21 lead at the break.
The Panther offense started stronger in the second half, and a
Shemarri Miles three pointer tied the game at 28 with 17:08 to go. Gallaudet responded and pushed the lead back to four with 11:04 left in the game. After another big three-pointer by
Payton Sellers tied the game at 36, back to back threes by
Jake Kampf gave Principia a 42-36 lead with 6:15 remaining. A three-pointer by
Shemarri Miles extended the lead to 12, and this 12-0 run on four shots from downtown gave Principia the momentum they needed to close out the Bison. Lay ups by
Marco Powells,
Kevin Wingert, and
Clark Davidson helped Principia down the stretch as they won 61-51 to sweep the Division III Hoops in Hawaii Holiday Classic.
After the tournament,
Jake Kampf and
Jaquan Adams were named to the All-Tournament team, and
Clark Davidson was named Tournament MVP!
Good to Know: The Panthers had an extremely balanced attack, with four players in double digits.
Clark Davidson led Principia with 12 and
Shemarri Miles had 11 on 4-4 shooting, including 3-3 from three point range.
Jake Kampf and
Payton Sellers both had 10 points on the day as well. Principia now moves to 8-2 on the season, one of the best starts in school history.
Up Next: The Panthers are now off for Christmas break! Their final non conference game is at Grinnell College on December 31st at 1:00 pm.
