Panther boys go 4-1 at Beaver Dam tournament

Three games in one day is going to exact its toll on your legs, especially if you have only been practicing for 10-12 days. The Pahranagat Valley boys found out the truth of that reality.

The Panthers competed in the Beaver Dam Invitational tournament last weekend at Littlefield, Arizona and came away with a 4-1 record.

The team opened pool play on Thursday against Virgin Valley?s JV team and won 45-31. Tabor Maxwell scored 13 points to lead the Panthers.

Culen Highbe and Daved Wilson each scored eight points for Alamo, who outscored the Bulldogs 29-10 in the first half.

The next game in pool play on Friday was against Liberty Baptist, an independent school from west Las Vegas.

Christian Higbee scored 15 points as the Panthers downed the Eagles 41-27.

Jacob Roemer added 10 points and Shawn Wadsworth eight for Pahranagat Valley, which outscored the Eagles 26-14 in the second half to pull away.

Ryan Baldwin scored nine points to lead the Eagles.

Pahranagat coach Mike Strong said Higbee had five three-pointers in the game. ?We had really good ball movement, a good inside, outside game, and a bit more balanced scoring, and hitting the outside shots was key as well.?

Saturday morning began bracket play, and the Panthers met Fredonia, Arizona and won 46-23 led by Culen Highbe with 10 points. ?We had balanced scoring this game, too,? Strong said. ?We jumped up on them at the outset, 15-0 after one quarter and a 23-3 halftime lead.?

The second game on Saturday was with the Virgin Valley JV team and the Panthers won 52-40.

?Real balanced scoring, good ball movement again? said Strong. Maxwell had 11, Highbe and Cody Williams both added 13, and Wadsworth with nine.?

Pahranagat therefore earned a spot in the tournament championship Saturday night opposite Liberty Baptist. And this is where the fatigue set in. Strong explained, ?We had the lead most of the time, and up 21-16 at the half. After that, the legs were just not there and the team began to miss shots. Our shooting percentage was really poor.? Meantime, Liberty (6-1) began to rely on the inside work of 6-4 senior center Jordan Griffin who had 21 of the team?s total points.

But it was still close in the fourth quarter, Strong said, ?It was back and forth. We?d have the lead, they would take the lead, then we would get it again. Back and forth it went, until Liberty got some uncontested lay ins late to go up by four. Both teams were just tired,? Strong said. ?They had good shooters, but they couldn?t score either.?

In analyzing the team?s play Strong noted, ?We are out-rebounding our opponents, but we have to get better at the offensive rebound. We?re giving up too many offensive boards, and as time goes along, we?ll get in better physical shape.?

Pahranagat (5-2) defeated Lincoln in Panaca 42-37 this past Tuesday night and are on the road again tonight at Wells.

The Panthers played in Wells last year also, and won 56-20.

The Pahranagat girls played Wells last night in Alamo. Strong said both Panther teams were supposed to play at Wells this week, but the Wells girls were scheduled to play in a tournament at Virgin Valley this weekend, ?so they just picked up a game on their way down.?