By Jeff Manges
ROYAL CENTER — They didn’t have an overly impressive start, but the Pioneer Panthers put the hammer down in the second half here on Friday night on their way to a 69-36 thrashing of the visiting North White Vikings.
The Panthers (7-8, 3-1 Midwest Conference) outscored North White 22-5 in the fourth quarter alone.
“I thought we moved the ball real well in the second half,” said Pioneer coach Pat Skaggs. “And when you can do that, good things are going to happen.”
Pioneer led 11-5 after one quarter, thanks in part to seven points from senior post man Logan Brock. The Panthers increased their lead to 12 by the intermission.
The game seemed far from over though, as North White (1-14, 1-5) was able to hang around, mainly because of sophomore center Chase Lowry, who scored 11 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the half.
“Their big kid [Lowry] is going to cause teams some problems,” said Skaggs. “He had 19, I believe, against Caston and he’s only a sophomore.
“We started off slow in the first half,” Skaggs continued. “But give some of that credit to North White, they came in here and battled.”
Pioneer increased its lead to 16 by the end of the third quarter, as they outscored the Vikings 18-14 in the stanza. But the bottom fell out for the visitors in the fourth quarter, as the Panthers went on their 22-5 run to end the game.
Skaggs was able to use mainly subs in the fourth quarter, and they took advantage of the playing time.
“I thought the guys that came off the bench did a real nice job. I told the older guys to get their work done and let the younger guys get their chance. It’s a total team thing.”
On the night, 32 of the Panthers’ 69 points came from the bench, as 11 players scored.
One area where the Panthers held a distinct advantage over the visiting Vikings was from the field, as they attempted 50 field goals, and hit 27. North White was only 14 of 36 from the field. The Panthers were able to put up so many more shots due to their dominance on the glass, as they outrebounded North White 28-13. The Vikings only had one rebound to their credit in the second half.
“It was nice to see us make a couple threes,” said Skaggs. “We’ve really struggled from the outside lately. Their will be times where it will be important for us to step up and make a three.”
Pioneer also took care of the basketball, committing only 10 turnovers compared to 22 from North White. Turnovers have been a problem recently for the Panthers.
“We made a big improvement on the turnovers,” said Skaggs.
The Panthers are right in the thick of the conference title chase.
“February is such a crucial month to peak and play well,” said Skaggs. “I’m not going to harp on winning the conference and stress it a lot. We just want to be playing solid basketball by the end of the month.”
Tyler Miller led the way for the Panthers with 13 points, while Brock added 12, Doryn Wolf nine and Deven Lee 8. Lee led the way on the glass with seven rebounds. Miller and freshman Matt Dorris each snared four boards.
The Panthers’ junior varsity team improved to an impressive 13-2 with a 55-15 victory. Sophomore JD Maggart poured in 19 points for the victors.
