Panthers Stay Perfect With Win at Murphy
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ Four Panthers finished in double figures as Pinckneyville, with the aid of a 15-6 fourth quarter, stayed perfect on the season with a 56-44 road win over Murphysboro last night.
The Red Devils had closed to within a single point near the end of the third quarter, but the Panthers went a perfect 9-for-9 at the free throw line down the stretch to seal their fourth victory.
"It wasn't pretty, but this team doesn't do anything pretty," said Panthers' head coach Bob Waggoner. "They beat us in transition, they beat us off the dribble, we didn't guard them very well, but we still held them to 44 points and found a way to win."
Shay Kellerman and Dustin Winter both hit three-pointers early on as the Panthers led 10-6 after the first quarter, and both would connect from downtown again in the second quarter just a couple minutes into play.
The Panthers tried to pull away near the midway point of the period, as S. Kellerman hit on a jumper off an out-of-bounds play to put Pinckneyville up 20-11, but Murphy responded with a quick 4-0 spurt that resulted in a timeout by Waggoner and the Panthers.
Winter's second three of the quarter rattled home with 1:29 left in the half, but was immediately answered by three of Dylan Craig's game-high 22 points for Murphysboro, and Pinckneyville led 27-23 at halftime.
"Most of his points came from beating us down the floor and getting layups," said Waggoner. "In the second half we did a better job of (stopping that)."
The two teams traded baskets for much of the third period before Craig's three with under a minute to go cut the lead to one, but Morton's rebound and putback gave the Panthers a 41-38 advantage moments later.
Winter was fouled on a three-point attempt with around five minutes to play, just seconds after picking up his fourth personal foul. He would sink all three from the charity stripe as Pinckneyville moved ahead 46-38.
Four more free throws from Winter would close out the game as the Panthers finished the night with their biggest lead, after the defense held Murphysboro without a score in the fourth quarter for the first five minutes of play.
Winter led the Panthers with 16 points, Sims finished with 14, Morton and S. Kellerman 10, Derek Kellerman 4 and Bryant Lively 2.
Pinckneyville (4-0) will finally get their home opener this Friday as they open conference play against Nashville.
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