LOUISVILLE, KY - The Principia Men's Basketball team traveled out to Louisville, Kentucky on Tuesday to play the Spalding Golden Eagles. Coming into the game, the Panthers were fourth in the conference standings at 5-4, just ahead of the Golden Eagles at 4-5, so this was a big game for both teams as the top four seeds will host a first round game in the the SLIAC tournament. Unfortunately, after the Panthers fought back to send the game into overtime, the Golden Eagles were able to make a contested shot in the final seconds to get the important win, 68-67.
The game started out very slow for Principia, struggling to score at all for almost the entire first half. Luckily, the Panthers were playing tough on the defensive end, and although the Golden Eagles were scoring more, they were not able to pull ahead by much. With 6 minutes left in the half, the Panthers had still only scored a total of seven points, and had no fluidity going on offense. Spalding had only scored 19 points themselves when the Panthers finally started making their come back. After a couple 3s from guards
Kevin Wingert and
Jake Kampf, and a couple buckets inside from both bigs
Clark Davidson and
Nathan Brantingham, the Panthers brought the deficit to only three going into the half at 22-19.
Knowing they were still in the game after playing about as bad as they could have to begin the contest, the Panthers came into the second half with renewed confidence needing to keep getting defensive stops to have a chance. The first ten minutes of the second played pretty even as Principia kept Spalding within striking distance despite not converting on many offensive possessions. As the final ten minutes began, Spalding was still ahead only up three at 39-36. However, things started to slip away from Principia over the next three minutes as the Golden Eagles went on a scoring spree to go up 11 with 7:40 to go.
The Panthers' outlook was bleak, but this team would not stop fighting. A big 3-pointer from Davidson with just under seven to go triggered an impressive comeback. Over the next three minutes,
AJ Byrd took over the game, hitting some tough jumpers and knocking down his free throws to tie the game up at 48. Byrd would hit another huge game-tying three with two minutes to go, followed by a clutch three by
Jake Kampf to give Principia a 56-53 lead with a minute left. Spalding was able to hit clutch shots of their own down the stretch, none bigger than a game-tying three with 10 seconds left. The Panthers had a shot to hit their third game winning buzzer beater, but the step back jumper and successive put back wouldn't fall as the game headed to overtime knotted up at 58.
The extra period continued the back and forth battle. After Spalding made the first two shots, Byrd continued to put the team on his back with back-to-back threes to give the Panthers a 64-62 lead. With 45 seconds left, a tough layup from Brantingham off of a drive from Byrd put Principia up three, but Spalding was able to convert on the other end to cut the Panthers lead to one. The Golden Eagles then fouled to stop the clock with 14 seconds left and force Principia to make their free throws to ice the game. Unfortunately, both free throws rattled out, and Spalding's Brian Tribble knocked down a long two in the corner right before time expired to give the Golden Eagles a 68-67 win on their Senior Night. The loss sends the Panthers' conference record to 5-5 with four regular season games left as they hope to finish strong and secure a top four seed.
Good To Know: AJ Byrd led the Panthers with 22 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists.
Clark Davidson finished with a double-double putting up 11 points and 11 boards.
Jake Kampf finished with 12 points on 3/4 from the 3 point line, and
Nathan Brantingham has 10 points and 8 rebounds.
Up Next: The Panthers return to Hay Field House this Saturday for Senior Day vs Webster at 3 pm! Come cheer on the guys and help them celebrate senior
Daniel Hoffman! If you can't make it, be sure to check out the Principia Men's Basketball page for the streaming link.
