by Ben Gaines
The HFCS JV basketball team, coached by Chris Fleming, was back home Friday night hosting the Granville Horde in front of a smaller than usual crowd. But the Panthers, not willing to disappoint, were ready to put on a show, and Jake Nolan was the entertainment for the first quarter. The sophomore with 71% shooting accuracy put 8 of the first quarter’s 12 points on the board to the Horde’s 6.
The Horde, having traveled an hour plus, was not going to let the Panthers off easy. Sophomore Bailey Pratt was in and out of the paint all game long making Mark Hackett, Connor McCart and Justin Gaines work for every rebound. The first half ended with a 30-16 lead for the Panthers.
The players and the refs were wearing down in the third quarter, with the refs having a couple of discussions after whistles and then calling a technical foul on Coach Chris Fuller of the Horde. The quarter ended at 45 – 18 with some of the HF relief players coming in and holding the Horde to one bucket.
The last quarter saw the relief players in full action against all 9 of the Granville squad. Panthers were beat for only 1 bucket and three foal shots while they scored 14 to end the game with a 59 – 23 win. It was a physical, draining game. Scorers for the Panthers were Mark Hackett with 11, Jake Nolan and Connor McCart with 10 each, Noah LaBarge 9, Noah Chani 7, Tyler Gaines and Josh Woods with 4 each, Remington Hickey, 2 and the under the weather and top rebounder for the match Justin Gaines with 2 points. Noah Corbitt, and Wyatt Cushman are still on the injured list while Riley Bacon and Alex Mendez will be rejoining the bench next week. With win 21 under their belt the Panthers will take to the road and travel north to visit Cambridge on Wednesday the 19th for what should be a great game.