by Ben Gaines
The Panther Boys Varsity Basketball Team hosted the Argyle Scots, Coached by Jack Sherwin, Saturday afternoon and lost 47 to 65. The game was disappointing for the Panther fans, filling the gymnasium to about 70% capacity, expecting a win against the Class D Scots.
The Panthers’ program for the evening noted that 90% of the scoring of last season was accomplished by the four seniors who graduated. “We need to figure what players work well together,” said Coach Mike Lilac when asked what the game plan was for today’s game. He pulled all players from the 15 deep bench several times to see what players could contribute, but it was the seniors, who have had the experience at this level of play, that knew how to counter this kind of onslaught.
By the end of the game it was clear that the Panthers have a lot of work to do. The Scots’ senior, Joey Lufkin (#1), a fourth year varsity player, drained multiple field goals when left wide open on the arc and ran up the points with nearly every drive to the hoop on his way to an above average game. He scored 35 points, 5 over his average for last season and was followed by Delsh Pryce (#22) with 20 points from the paint.
For the Panthers, defense was lacking, help was slow to come, rebounding was practically nonexistent and successful boxing out was only seen a handful of times. Offensively the Panther squad needs a lot of work. “We need to work on execution and finishing shots,” said Coach Lilac. The Panthers’ high scorer of the game was Taylor Baker with 12, followed closely by Randy Tutunjian with 9.
Since November 19 the Panthers have scrimmaged Chatham of Class C and Hudson Falls of Class B for wins and lost by narrow margins to Cohoes of Class B and Voorheesville of Class C.
The varsity players need to follow their shots in order to convert possessions to buckets and need to be much more dutiful at boxing out and rebounding to repeat their 13 League wins of last season.
Cheerleaders Pitch In
During the Varsity and JV matches the Lady Panthers Cheerleaders were Loud and Proud, as they rallied the crowd. Varsity Cheerleader Captain, senior Liz Leva, and the Squad tried relentlessly to get the boys varsity squad back on its feet, down to the last ticks of the clock, to no avail.
The next game is Friday evening, December 7 when the Panthers host Hoosic Valley for their first WASAREN League game.