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| Rain of 3’s sparks Panthers to victory |
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| Sports | |||
| Written by Gene Morris | |||
| Friday, 05 February 2010 09:00 | |||
De Soto wanted this one bad. On paper, by all rights, the Wildcats should have had it.  The boys wearing green were gigantic across the front, towering over the Paola Panthers inside, with 6-foot-4-inch forward Brandon Philbrook, 6-6 forward Paul Stallbaumer and 6-7 center Aaron Nutterfield wreaking havoc in the lane and on the boards. Two dunks. Nutterfield hit Paola hard inside, scoring 12 of his team-high 20 points in the first half. The Panther defense was able to slow his teammates down, allowing just 32 points in the first half to stay close with 26 points of their own in 16 minutes. A rain of 3-pointers in the third quarter sent Paola on a 27-10 run, and the boys withstood a 15-2 onslaught to open the fourth frame, pulling out a 63-62 victory capped by a steal and layup by Skylar Hawkins with 31.6 seconds left. Don’t look now, but the Paola boys have won two straight games for an overall record of 5-8 and a perfect 3-0 mark in the Frontier League. “We played the best quarter of basketball all year in that third quarter,” Paola coach Dave Cash said. “There was a spark I had not seen in the gym in a long time. You played with a purpose. I am proud of you guys.” The Panthers have to be smarter about playing with a lead, letting De Soto back in the game with too many quick looks at the basket in the fourth quarter and causing poor shots and turnovers instead of slowing things down and forcing the Wildcats to play defense, Cash said. “We had too many turnovers in the fourth quarter and, for a while there, we played not to lose it a little bit,” Cash said. De Soto fans, who were wild and boisterous all evening, chanting “our house” in the first half, were silenced by Hawkins’ steal and layup in the final minute as the Panthers celebrated. “That’s two in a row,” Cash said. “No one said we can’t go for three in a row.” Paola travels to Ottawa tonight, playing the state-ranked Cyclones in search of its third straight win. “We are going to have to play hard for four quarters in Ottawa, and there are no guarantees then,” Cash said. After having a lukewarm shooting performance in the first half, one had the sense the Paola boys were going to catch fire in the third quarter against De Soto, and that’s exactly what they did. Paola buried six of eight 3-point attempts in the frame to fuel a 27-10 run that put the Panthers ahead by 11 points (53-42) at the end of three quarters. Isaac Cotton and Travis Hayes each hit a pair of 3-pointers to lead the charge. Brandon Goodman and Connor Kresin also drained 3-pointers in the quarter. Cotton, who hit seven field goals on the night and three free throws, finished with a team-high 20 points for the Panthers. “The third quarter was pretty interesting,” Cotton said after a long pause to decide upon just the right word to describe the Panthers’ best quarter of basketball. Paola’s rain of 3-pointers ignited the crowd and the players could feel that energy, Cotton said. “We really fed off the crowd and just started banging them (3-pointers) down,” he said. “I really think this is the game to start us on a roll.” Hayes sank six field goals on the night, including two 3-pointers, finishing with 17 points. He added three of four from the line. Brandon Goodman finished with seven points. Nick Wilson had six points. Other players scoring for Paola were Justin Dunmars, Hawkins and Kresin.
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