ELSAH, IL - The Principia Men's Basketball team hosted the Westminster College Blue Jays on Tuesday evening for their second meeting this season. The last game these two teams played ended in a half court buzzer beater from
Jake Kampf to win the game for the Panthers. Kampf must really like playing Westminster, because he had another big game tonight, hitting 6/7 3-point attempts. Both teams came into the game with a must-win mindset, but the Panthers were the ones who prevailed in the end.
Principia came out on fire offensively to open the game, moving the ball well and creating some great shots. There were a few nice post moves from both
Clark Davidson and
Nathan Brantingham, and some smooth mid range shots from
AJ Byrd. After taking a quick 12-4 lead in the first five minutes, the Panthers cooled off a bit and struggled to string together stops. The Blue Jays came back to tie the game up at 14, and the rest of the half was a back and forth battle. The Panthers' overall energy was much better on the court than in recent games, but it was still a little too up and down on defense as they allowed Westminster to stay close. Fortunately, the Panthers were able to maintain the lead going into the half up 43-39.
The Blue Jays started out the second half strong, scoring the first seven points to take over the lead. The defensive shortcomings for the Panthers persisted as the game went on, but they were still clicking on all cylinders offensively. The game continued to be close as each team traded buckets for the first 12 minutes of the half. After both
Jake Kampf and
Kevin Wingert knocked down some big threes to help Principia stay ahead, the Panthers knew they needed to step up and get some stops to win the game.
Point guard
Shemarri Miles was able to lift the level of the Panthers' play with his vocal leadership, bringing the defensive intensity that the team was missing. Miles was also able to knock down an important 3-pointer with seven minutes to go, and then convert on a big and-1 with five minutes left to give Principia a nine point lead. The Panthers wouldn't look back from there as their confidence on both ends was sky-high. Principia finished strong on defense by not giving up a single point in the last three and half minutes, and the game ended with a 16 point Panther win - their largest margin of victory during conference play thus far.
Good To Know: In each of the last three Principia wins (including tonight),
Jake Kampf has hit six 3-pointers! Getting Kampf cooking from beyond the arc is clearly a recipe for the Panthers' success. Kampf had arguably his best game of the season, finishing with 22 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals.
AJ Byrd also added 25 points of his own, as he matched Kampf with 7 boards and 4 assists.
Kevin Wingert added 14 points and 7 boards off the bench, and
Clark Davidson finished with a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Up Next: Principia's game on Thursday has been postponed due to a winter storm passing through our region over the next couple days. The Panthers will be back to action this weekend when they take on the Blackburn Beavers at home on Saturday at 3 pm!
