The 8th grade A boys basketball team hosted Lumen Christi last night.  Carter O'Connell opened the game with a quick basket just after tip, but unfortunately that would be the only time the Panthers led.  It was a tight game early though as the Panthers trailed by just 5 after the first quarter, 8-13.  Throughout the second quarter the Panthers were hanging around and went into the half trailing 25-17.

 

Lumen came out of the half and sank a quick 3-point basket to take an 11 point lead, but the Panthers did not back down and fought extremely hard to get back into the game.  Bentley Coon found Dom Galloway down on the block to get the lead back to single digits.  Logan Young sank a pair of free-throws and then followed those with a steal and a layup.  Wyatt Bell sank a runner to cut the lead to 3 at 27-30 late in the third quarter.  However, the turnover bug bit the Panthers as they turned it over on their next 4 possessions, which led directly to 9 points for Lumen and before the Panthers could blink they were down 27-39 at the end of the third quarter and ultimately lost by a final score of 30-47.

 

Ball security was once again the story, as the Panthers committed 25 turnovers which led to 20 points for the Titans as they struggled to find their flow offensively.  Bentley Coon and Logan Young led Western in scoring with 8 points apiece while Young topped the team with 7 rebounds and Coon led with 3 assists.  Bentley Coon had his strongest game of the year with those 8 points and 3 assists while adding 4 rebounds, 2 steals and a block.  

 

The loss is the third in a row for the Panthers, but despite the losing streak the team continues to get stronger as a group and there are some positives to take away from the losing streak.  Western will go into the Thanksgiving break with a record of 3-4 and look to get back on track when they host Northwest coming out of the long break on Monday, December 2nd.