ELSAH, IL – The Principia men's basketball team came extremely close to their first home conference win of the season this past weekend but wound up losing both games to Lyon College and MUW by a combined four points.
On Thursday night vs Lyon, the Panthers kept the game close in the first half and were only down by four at the break. Lyon steadily built their lead up to 16 with six minutes to go, but Principia did not quit and improved their play down the stretch. They slowly began to come back, and a huge and-one drive to the basket by
Nolan Simon cut the deficit to one with 37 seconds remaining.
Two Lyon free throws later, the Panthers had the chance to tie the game with a three on their final possession. After their first attempt went off the rim, an offensive board gave them a second chance but the contested shot came up short and Principia lost 70-67.
Bobby Alford III had a season-high 23 points to go along with 9 rebounds and 3 assists in the defeat.
On Saturday afternoon vs MUW, Principia had another late comeback that came even closer to a Panther victory. Down by eight a halftime, Principia never trailed by more than that the entire second half as they chipped away at the MUW lead. Down by three with three minutes to go,
Isaiah Parker hit a big three-pointer to tie the game. Two possessions later down by two, Parker hit another massive three to give the Panthers their first lead of the game at 72-71.
Principia then got with an important stop with 35 seconds left to put them in a good position, but MUW came up with a clutch steal and fast-break lay up to retake the lead with six seconds left. The Owls were able tp defend the Panthers' final shot well, and it would not fall as MUW secured the win, 73-72. Parker hit five threes in total for a career-high 22 points, while
Nolan Simon led the team averaging 17.5 points between the two games.
The Panthers will host Greenville on Tuesday night in their second-to-last home game of the season.
