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Panthers Hold Off Bulldogs

Posted January 04, 2009 10:00 pm

Doug Daniels

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ Pinckneyville improved to 8-4 on the season this past Saturday, holding off Sparta 49-41 at Thomas Gymnasium behind Cody Sims' team-high 17 points.

"It wasn't pretty, but it's a win," said Panthers' head coach Bob Waggoner.

The Panthers (46%) out-shot an ice cold Bulldogs team that made good on only 11-of-34 field goals (32%) on the night, despite a game-high 18 points from junior Dartanus White.

Both teams started very sluggish, as Jake Hargis' hard-fought two brought Sparta to within 13-11 with 2:20 left in the first half.

Pinckneyville finished with a flurry, however, as Sims took two lob passes for easy buckets and Lively's jumper at the buzzer capped off a 7-0 Panther run to finish the first half.

Sims' rebound and putback moments into the third quarter extended the lead to 25-11, and Sparta head coach Greg Bass called for an early second half timeout.

The Panthers began to cruise, and Waggoner had even subbed in his bench late in the fourth quarter, but Sparta refused to quit, as White's three-point play with under a minute to go brought the Bulldogs to within seven points at 48-41.

"Good teams put teams away, you have to have a killer instinct," Waggoner said, adding "we don't have a killer instinct."

The late rally wasn't enough, though, as the Pinckneyville starters returned to the floor to preserve the victory.

"We are very limited at any given time with the number of players we have on the floor who can use their off-hand," Waggoner said. "The more skill development you have, the more confident you are as a player ... We struggle with those fundamentals, because we're not very strong with our off-hand - that's something Panther fans aren't used to seeing, we usually have strong guard play."

More encouraging news for Pinckneyville - guard Drew Dudek has started to take part in practice in hopes of returning to action within the next couple weeks.

Pinckneyville returns to action tonight at home against Waterloo, a team coached by Pinckneyville graduate Matt Mason.

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