Panthers display offense to start the new year with back-to-back wins

PACKWOOD – Offense didn’t seem to take a break.

Or if it did the offensive firepower returned from vacation early to suit the Panthers in a pair of wins to start the new calendar year. 

Pekin was the first basketball team to hit the court in 2025 and they were able to bring their offense with a pair of victories that were fueled by offensive efforts. On Jan. 2 the Panthers were able to win 63-35 over Columbus. 

The next night the Panthers were on the road, but the offense traveled with them in a 74-30 victory over Highland. 

While offense was on full display in their Jan. 2 win over Columbus, Pekin head boys basketball coach, John Swanson credits the defense for the win.

“We always like to play a little extra hard on defense,” Swanson said after the win. “Tonight I think we had a little bit of extra aggression on defense. We had a really good game plan, once we adjusted to their game plan we were able to protect the basket and get the buckets we needed.”

Throughout the first quarter the game was incredibly close as the leading scorer for Columbus was able to run around the defensive plans that the Panthers had created. Once the Panthers started to put more pressure on the leading scorer for Columbus the Panthers were able to start running away with the game. 

Steals by the Panther defense led to the difference in the first quarter as the Panthers were able to gain a narrow, 14-11 lead. 

In the second quarter the Panthers were able to increase their lead. 

Pekin had been able to read the offense of Columbus and interrupt their offensive plans with steal after steal. That only helped them create more and more offense for themselves. 

As the game got closer to halftime the Panthers were able to generate more and more offense, and took a double-digit lead for the first time.

Although they only led by nine at the break, the offense was just warming up for the Panthers. 

Steals on nearly every possession of Columbus fueled breakaways and the lead for Pekin started to continue to grow. 

With the breakaway shots the Panthers were able to also control the rebounding game which helped give the Panthers second chance shots when they needed them. 

“That has been an area that we focused on during break,” Swanson said. “We’ve put more emphasis on that and it was nice to see the guys dominate on the glass.”

By the end of the third quarter the lead had grown to 20 points for the Panthers, and they weren’t slowing down. 

Columbus was left without any control in the final period and the Panthers were able to gain the win 63-35. 

“Cole really shouldered the offensive  load for the team tonight,” Swanson said about the junior who scored 24 points in the Jan. 2 win. “He did a little bit of everything for us and I was really happy to see that. He’s been a primarily three point shooter for us in the past, but he really went inside a lot tonight.”

Millikin led the Panthers with 21 points in the game. Henry Adam scored 10 points. Another 10 points were scored by Nolan Glick. Kasey Davis scored 10 points.

Will Adam scored six points. Leithyn Durflinger finished with two points. 

The offense continued on Jan. 3 for the Panthers as well. 

In a 74-30 victory over Highland the Panthers started with a 24-2 run in the first quarter. By halftime they were able to lead 38-10.

The Panthers would score 36 points in the second half while Highland was limited to just 20 points.

Millikin led the Panthers once again with 23 points. Will Adam scored 16 points. Nolan Glick scored 10 points. 

Kasey Davis scored seven points. Alijah Brock scored six points. Henry Adam would finish with four points. Robert Brown and Riley Smith both scored three points each. Carson Comstock finished with two points. 

Overall the Panthers are 5-3 on the season with three games this week.