Last night, the Western Panthers A Basketball A-Team hosted Coldwater in their first home contest of the season. It was a quick rematch of last weeks game, which saw Western cruise to an easy 27-point victory. Despite the convincing win, the Panthers knew they were in for a battle this time around, and that is exactly what they got. From the opening tip, Western struggled to convert opportunities around the rim, an issue that plagued them throughout the game. Western found it nearly impossible to get anything to drop in the first quarter, shooting 1/14 from the floor and found themselves trailing 5-13 at the end of the first quarter. Coldwater scored the first basket of the second quarter to extend their lead to 10. Jaelon Dela Torre drove the lane and converted his and-one to start an 8-0 run for the Panthers that got them right back into the game. After some back and forth action, Giuvanni Tinervia drove the lane and finished a nice layup to cut the lead to just two at 13-15. Unfortunately, miscommunication and poor transition defense by the Panthers to close out the second half allowed the Cardinals to go on a little run of their own, and going into halftime Coldwater had extended the lead to 10 at 23-13. The message was simple at halftime, compete with composure, win one possession at a time and win the first four minutes of the half. Kaiden Brown scored 6 of the first 7 points of the second half, and all of sudden the Panthers were right back in the game and down just 20-23. After some back and forth action throughout the rest of the quarter, the Panthers trailed 24-27 heading into the fourth quarter. Allowing just 4 points in the quarter was just what they needed, playing much better defense than in the first half forcing 9 turnovers in the third quarter alone that included steals by Izayah Austin, Max Adams, Zack Niemi, and Brown. Throughout the final few moments of the third quarter and into the start of the fourth, Tinervia led the charge with his effort on the defensive side of the ball. He was able to grab a steal right out of the gate in the fourth quarter. Dela Torre also had a steal early in the quarter, but unfortunately the Panthers were unable to take advantage and score off either steal. Zack Niemi provided a much needed spark when he grabbed an offensive rebound and scored the putback to cut the Cardinals lead to just one at 26-27. Max Labadie missed a three-pointer that would have given the Panthers the lead, but after a Cardinal rebound, Tinervia had yet another steal. After some nice ball movement, Tinervia was able to find Rory McKnight in the lane who was able to convert the layup and give the Panthers their first lead of the game with around three and a half minutes remaining, 28-27. The lead was short-lived, and after a free-throw by Tinervia, Coldwater tied the game at 29. Max Adams was able to find Izayah Austin on the wing with a nice inbounds pass, and Austin knew exactly what to do with it as he drilled one of the biggest shots of the night, a deep three-pointer (the first and only three of the game for Western) one that gave the Panthers a 32-29 lead. Coldwater would not go away though, and after a McKnight free-throw gave the Panthers a 35-30 lead with just under two minutes remaining, Coldwater scored the next four points to make it a 35-34 game. Kaiden Brown made a nice move and drove the lane and made a nice layup to give the Panthers a 37-34 lead. Coldwater was able to take advantage of some sloppy play down the stretch by the Panthers, and after cutting the game to 37-36 had a chance to win the game in the finals moments. After a wide open miss from the elbow, Coldwater was able to grab the offensive rebound for another attempt at the win, but Kaiden Brown had other ideas as he used his length to block the shot and preserve the 37-36 win for the Panthers. It certainly was not the prettiest offensive performance from Western tonight, shooting just 23% from the field (7% from beyond the arc) and only 10-24 from the free-throw line. However, Western forced 31 turnovers ending the game with a plus-14 turnover margin. They also dominated the offensive glass, grabbing 18 offensive rebounds and allowing just 7. Despite struggling offensively for much of the night, the boys showed tremendous resilience, defensive intensity, teamwork and remained positive with each other. After trailing for three and a half quarters, they found a way to persevere and make plays when they matter most. Good teams find ways to win when things are not going their way, and last night the Panthers did just that. PLAYER STATISTICS: Kaiden Brown: 9 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, 2 blocks Rory McKnight: 7 points, 6 rebounds (5 offensive), 2 steals Jaelon Dela Torre: 6 points, 1 rebound, 2 steals Giuvanni Tinervia: 5 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 steals Izayah Austin: 3 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals Kyler Remynse: 2 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist Zack Niemi: 2 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal Max Labadie: 2 points, 1 steal Blake Casler: 1 point, 7 rebounds (4 offensive), 1 steal Max Adams: 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal TEAM HIGHLIGHTS: 15 steals by 8 different players 18 offensive rebounds, only allowed 7 Only committed 17 turnovers while forcing 31 DID NOT QUIT!