January 17, 2008
Basketball

By Dave Maxwell

Watch out for the wounded animal backed into a corner. That’s what the Alamo Panthers were January 12, and they responded by licking Trinity Christian 54-40.

Trinity Coach, Greg Hartmon, said his team, the defending 1A state champions, underestimated them and did not think they would rally so well after a close loss to Lake Mead the night before. “They played with a lot of energy and we definitely did not play our game. We could have played a little bit better on our end.”

The Panthers played very scrappy ball, putting pressure on the Thunder at all points, and especially collapsing in the middle when Trinity tried to get the ball inside to Roberts and Travis Kersenbrock

“I just told the kids to come out and play with intensity. We had to be the aggressor from the tip and I think the kids put together four pretty solid quarters,” said Panther Coach, Brian Higbee. “I think the kids responded real well, even though size-wise we were a little overmatched.”

Raphael Roberts is the leading scorer for the Thunder but Alamo had a game plan that effectively limited his work and managed to hold him to only nine points. “I think if we had moved the ball a little bit more and done something earlier, I think he would have established himself, but they took him out of the game early so we couldn’t get anything going to him,” Hartman said.

Brady Whipple turned in an outstanding effort for PVHS, scoring 13 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. “He’s maybe 6-1, but he plays like he’s 6-6,” Higbee said, “even among the big kids.”

The Panthers jumped off to an early lead in the second quarter and just never let Trinity catch up after that.

Ryan Hatch had 20 points for Alamo, with four 3-pointers, a trio of which came in the third quarter. In addition, Cody Hosier had 12 points. Taylor Poulsen was credited with nine rebounds.

Trinity’s leading scorer was Deveron Ross with 13.

The Panther boys (11-5) play a game on Wednesday against Pahrump (10-5) and play their last home game this Friday facing Laughlin (2-9) and then their last five games on the road beginning with Lake Mead on Saturday.

This Friday will be Senior Night for both the boys and girls teams.

Meantime, the Lady Panthers upped their record to 16-3 with an easy 57-15 win over Trinity. Jadey Jones scored nearly all of her 23 points on simple lay-ups as time and time again her teammates got the ball to her under the basket. Lauren Leavitt added 11 points.