Alberton pulls past Savage Heat

Nick Ianniello

Mineral Independent

The Alberton Panthers pulled out a big home town win against the Hot Springs Savage Heat Saturday evening after a big push in the third quarter.

“We had a really big third quarter that put us in the lead and we just managed to hang onto it for the rest of the game,” said Panthers Head Coach Chris Clevenger.

The Panthers started off the game neck and neck with the Savage Heat, only managing to outscore them 11 – 9 in the first quarter.

Clevenger said that the team was trying some new defensive tactics and the team was having some difficulty executing the new plays in the game.

By the end of the second quarter the Savage Heat had taken full advantage of the Panther’s struggle with their new strategy and took lead of the game, outscoring the Panthers 15 – 10 for a 24 – 21 first-half lead.

Clevenger said that coming into the second half of the game the team largely abandoned their old tactics for some tried and true strategies that allowed them to pull ahead in the third quarter.

Clevenger credits the Panthers’ return to a zone defense largely for their third quarter comeback in which they outscored the Savage Heat 12 – 4 for a 33 – 28 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Cody Hoose was a big part of the team’s third quarter comeback, scoring six of the team’s 12 third quarter points.

The third quarter push proved to be the game winning factor for the Panthers as the Savage Heat managed to answer the Panthers point for point in the fourth quarter, with each team scoring 14 points.

The Panther’s third quarter push secured their 47 – 42 win for the evening.

“We didn’t play very well in the first half because we really just couldn’t get into any sort of flow. That had a lot to do with the new defense and offense we were running,” said Clevenger.

Jerry Brovold led the team in scoring Saturday night with 20 points, while Hoose followed closely with 17 points of his own.

Clevenger said that the team’s return to their zone defense turned the game around from a close defeat to a solid home town win.

 “We had to switch back to some of our older tactics, the stuff that’s really our bread and butter. Once we got back to basics and started playing like the team is used to we took control of the game,” Clevenger said.