Panthers take dramatic lead over Tigers
Nick Ianniello/Mineral Independent St. Regis Tiger Shad Rich sets up to pass around Alberton Panther David Stafford during a game in Alberton last Tuesday evening. The Panthers won this game but the Tigers came out on top in an earlier match-up.
The Alberton Junior High School Panthers and St. Regis Junior High School Tigers basketball teams faced off last Tuesday evening in a two games at Alberton with the Tigers winning the first game and the Panthers winning the second.
The Panthers took an early lead in the first game, with Liam Grebence and Jonah Iverson each scoring. Tiger David Shadley nailed a layup for the Tigers' only score in the first quarter.
The Tigers came back in force in the second quarter, with Shad Rich scoring six points and Brit Ramsey sinking a foul shot. The Tigers played strong defense and prevented the Panthers from scoring in the first quarter, giving them a 9-4 lead in the first half.
The Tigers continued to strike hard in the third quarter. Brady Brantley scored for the Tigers five times and Hill scored twice. Panther Zac Kurian pushed through the Tigers tough offense for a basket in the second quarter, but the Tigers furthered their lead to 23-6.
Brantley brought in two more baskets in the fourth quarter for the Tigers and Ramsey scored the final Tigers point of the game. Iverson brought in one final field goal for the Panthers to wrap up the fourth quarter, but the Tigers won the game 29-8.
Fouls played a role in the Tigers victory. The Panthers had 10 fouls to the Tigers' 5, and the Tigers managed to score 3 points off of Panthers fouls.
The second game of the evening started with foul shots for both teams. Panther Andrew Lohman scored two points off of foul shots and Tiger Jarrod Tippens scored one point off of his foul shots. Tippens went on to score four more points in the first quarter while Panthers Lohman and Todd Myrstol scored two points each and Josh Webb sunk a foul shot. The Panthers went into the second quarter in the lead 7-5.
Lohman, Webb, Myrstol, David Pick and Justice Lofely each score in the second quarter for the Panthers, while Brantley scored for the Tigers. The Panthers went into the second half of the game head 26-9.
The first half was extremely foul heavy, with the Panthers racking up eight fouls and the Tigers racking up seven.
Lohman, Webb, Myrstol, Pick and Tyler Ishler all scored in the third quarter for the Panthers, while Brantley and Tippens scored for the Tigers. The Panthers led the Tigers 37-16 heading into the fourth quarter.
Lohman and Pick each scored in the fourth quarter for the Panthers. The Panthers played tough defense in the fourth and kept the Tigers from bringing in any more points. At the end of the game the Panthers had a 43-16 lead over the Tigers.
The Panthers and Tigers managed to get their fouls under control in the second half, with each team finishing the game with only nine fouls.