ELSAH, IL – Coming off their first win of the season, the Principia Men's Basketball team returned to Hay Field House for their home opener against the Grinnell Pioneers in a Saturday matinee. The Panthers had improved each game thus far in the season and were hoping that further improvement would equate itself to a win. Grinnell came into the game with a 3-1 record, including three wins in a row. Principia fought valiantly throughout despite being outmanned by the Pioneers. Unfortunately for the Panthers, they ran out of time and fell 110-102.
The game was a fast-paced, entertaining affair, as it always is against Grinnell due to the full court press that the Pioneers implement which speeds the game up. The Panthers were able to stay with the Pioneers throughout the first 12 minutes as an Isaac Salas lay up tied the game at 32 with 8 minutes left in the half. From there, Grinnell went on a 30-13 run to end the half to give them a 62-45 lead at halftime.
Principia came out of the half unfettered, and after giving up an early lay up to fall behind by 19, Principia slowly started to chip away at the Grinnell lead. With 12:15 remaining, the Panthers cut the Grinnell lead to 7 on back-to-back lay ups by freshman Bobby Alford III and a bucket by Jaquan Adams. After the Pioneers pushed the lead back up to 11, Principia would go on another 6-0 run to cut the lead to 3 on back-to-back lay ups from Charley Hoffman and two free throws from Shemarri Miles with 7:29 remaining. This would be as close as the Panthers would get as they ran out of steam towards the end, falling 110-102.
Good to Know: The Panthers were led all day by Jaquan Adams, who played the entirety of the game and was a force around the basket. After setting a career high with 32 points at UHSP, Adams surpassed that by 9 in this one for an incredible 41 points. He also added 13 rebounds and 8 assists as he did all he could to will Principia to victory. Shemarri Miles also played all 40 minutes in this high octane game, finishing with 6 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists. Other tremendous efforts came from Bobby Alford III and Charley Hoffman who had career highs of 23 and 22 points, respectively.
Up Next: The Panthers have one final game before Thanksgiving Break as they travel up to Galesburg, IL to take on Knox College this upcoming Tuesday at 7:00 pm. Last season Principia defeated Knox at home, 84-83 in one of the most exciting games of the year as a 21-point Principia comeback was capped by game-winning three by senior Clark Davidson with 5 seconds remaining.
