Pekin boys claw past Mid-Prairie to advance

Heading into the postseason, the record seems to matter a little less. Everyone starts over with a clean slate. However, the season record does factor into how high or low a team is seeded and heading down the stretch the Pekin boys were steadily dropping down the list with each consecutive loss.

They bucked that trend by playing and winning a game heading into the postseason, in which they hosted Mid-Prairie in the first round. Re-energized from a win over West Burlington on February 8, the Panthers were able to defend the Panther Den behind a 64-48 effort on February 12.

With the mindset of win or go home, the Panthers came out with some early punches, including hitting most of their early shots from behind the arc. For those shots to become available the offense had to execute, both with and without the ball. On the other end of the court, the defense was getting around some ball screens early to defend the ball-handler. Wellman was held to single digits in the opening quarter, only getting one chance at a shot per possession, while the Pekin offense put up 18 points.

“This was one of the best first-quarter defensive showings we’ve had this season,” Pekin coach Ken Hutchinson said. “There were a couple things we didn’t execute in the half-court against their ball screens, but outside of that they didn’t have many open looks and we did a good job boxing out.”

Pekin got some much-needed points to fall behind the arc in the opening minutes of the second quarter as well, while mixing in some buckets from within the paint and free throw line. The opponents began to cut into the deficit, as they were able to score on some ball screens that Pekin had been successfully shutting down earlier. The pace of play increased as the game wore on, with both sides taking advantage of some transition opportunities. Going into the half, Pekin still held onto a 32-25 lead.

“We shared the ball a lot better in the first half, by far and away one of our better halves of the year,” Hutchinson said. “Finding the open guy and being ready to shoot, whereas earlier this season we haven’t been ready to shoot right away.”

The Panthers were able to pick up where they left off after flipping ends, with the student section hoping to make an impact when the visitors had the ball. Pekin looked to get the ball down low, or at least attack the paint, and kept some possessions alive by grabbing offensive boards. Many made shots came in the lane or from quick shots off rebounds. The aggressive play from the defense shut down most opportunities for Wellman, as Pekin began to pull away. Heading into the final quarter, the Panthers led 51-36.

“We’re confident, we’ve got the intent to shoot and if not, looking to reverse it to find the open guy,” Hutchinson said. “We figured against the zone if we pulled a hard reversal and pulled one of our posts out we could slip the other one in underneath, and it actually started working really well for us.”

The fourth quarter was more of the same, with Pekin causing some turnovers, but also having some difficulty at times scoring with their offense. Mid-Prairie put together a final push but couldn’t climb out of the hole they’d been in for much of the game. The Panthers were sent to the free throw line with about two minutes left, extending their lead and sealing the win.

Cameron Millikin led the way with 17 points for the Panthers, including knocking down three triples and a perfect six of six from the free throw line. He also had four assists and three rebounds. Right behind him in the scoring column was Dayne Eckley, scoring 14 points, and Caleb Comstock with 10 points. They had four rebounds and one steal apiece, while Comstock added on seven assists and a block.

Levi Long had a team-high 10 rebounds and came up just shy of a double-double with seven points. Ryan Stansberry and Chandler Eckley contributed six points apiece, while Keenan Winn had the final four points. Winn had a team-high two blocks to go with five rebounds, two assists and two steals. As a team the Panthers shot over 50 percent from behind the arc and converted on 12 of their 18 free throw attempts.

The win set Pekin up for a physical track-style battle with Eddyville-Blakesburg Fremont in the second round of postseason play on February 15. The Panthers got down early but kept the deficit manageable heading into the half. The third and fourth quarter play of EBF ended up being too much for Pekin, as the Rockets knocked off the Panthers 71-43. Millikin had 15 points, while Winn almost had a double-double with nine rebounds and eight points. Pekin ended the season with a 13-9 record.

   


 

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