Panthers' Streak Hits Five With Win Over Anna-Jonesboro

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ Pinckneyville will be riding a five-game winning streak heading into next week's Benton Invitational Tournament, as the Panthers pulled away from Anna-Jonesboro 62-44 last night at Thomas Gymnasium.

The Wildcats' zone defense did little to deter the hot outside shooting of, among others, Dustin Winter, who connected on five three pointers and led all scorers with 19 points.

"We did a pretty good job against their zone," said Panthers' head coach Bob Waggoner. "They never came out of it, I thought they would, but they didn't."

It was Nathan Morton doing the early damage for the Panthers, hitting a three and dominating the offensive glass for a couple putbacks in the first quarter. Morton started the game in place of Shay Kellerman, who was recovering from a sprained ankle.

Back-to-back threes by Winter put the Panthers on top 15-6 with 2:12 left in the opening quarter, and the Wildcats, also short a key starter, clawed to stay in the game with free throws early in the second period.

Morton went back to work, however, either scoring or getting to the free throw line seemingly every time the offense got him the ball in the post.

After a pair of rebounds and missed putbacks by Morton, Bryant Lively made good on the Panthers' fourth opportunity and drew the foul in the process. His free throw put Pinckneyville up 29-11 with 4:17 left in the first half.

The Panthers continued to fire away at the zone defense in the third quarter, with Winter, Derek Kellerman and Drew Dudek all hitting from beyond the arc to extend the lead.

A-J (8-8, 1-3) also struggled from the line, hitting only 10-of-20 free throw attempts in the game.

Morton (12 points) and Lively (11) joined Winter in double figures, D. Kellerman and Dudek each finished with 8, and Kyle Lamb and Bryant Shute 2.

Cody Hubble led the Wildcats with 17 points.

Pinckneyville (11-4, 2-2) next sees action on Monday, as they put their 20-game B.I.T. winning streak on the line against Hamilton County at 7:30 p.m. in Benton.

"They're physically, they're big," commented Waggoner, "it's going to take a tremendous amount of effort to go in there and get a win on Monday."