The 8th grade A basketball team played host to Marshall last night.  The game was a low scoring, intense defensive battle between the two teams.  The Panthers defense came out strong, dominating the game early and held an 11-4 lead after the 1st quarter.  The Redhawk defense really stepped up the rest of the game though and in the 2nd quarter they limited the Panthers to just 4 points.  Despite the lack of offense in the quarter, the Panthers went into halftime leading 15-10.  Unfortunately the proverbial lid stayed on the rim in the 3rd quarter for the Panthers as they were only able to muster 2 points in the quarter, while Marshall's offense exploded for 10 points.  At the end of the 3rd quarter the Panthers found themselves trailing, 17-20.  

 

In the 4th quarter the Panthers defense picked back up, but unfortunately they were just not able to do enough offensively to pull out the victory.  The game was tied at 23 with just under 20 seconds left when a great defensive hustle play by Bentley Coon forced a jump ball, giving possession back to the Panthers.  They were able to get an open look and good chance on the inbounds play, but unfortunately the shot did not go down.  Marshall grabbed the rebound and after a timeout was able to get a wide open layup to take the lead with just 2 seconds left.  After a quick timeout the Panthers had a shot from beyond half court, but it came up short and the Panthers fell 25-23.

 

Throughout the game the Panthers high pressure defense racked up 12 steals and forced a total of 22 Marshall turnovers.  However, the Panthers committed 25 turnovers of their own which crippled their offensive rhythm and proved to be their demise.  Additionally, the Panthers were on the wrong side of a lopsided foul situation (20-8) which allowed Marshall to go to the free-throw line 16 times with Western only getting 2 attempts.

 

The loss brings the Panthers record to 3-3 on the season and will host Lumen Christi on Monday evening.