We defeated the Etown Panthers 51-47 on the road last night for easily our biggest win of the year. Etown was 1-3 coming into last night's game but those losses were to some of the best teams in the 5th region and to Male.
Etown's 1-3-1 defense gave us fits again last night as it did last year. They were so long and athletic it was hard to get much penetration from our guards out front. At halftime we were down 24-21 in a low scoring affair.
We were down 8 midway through the 3rd quarter before we made a good run at them to tie it up going into the 4th quarter. This is when I really though our experience and toughness paid off as we were able to make some big plays down the stretch and some very big free throws.
Our team defense was outstanding tonight holding Etown's 6'10 center to 8 points and forcing them to make outside jumpers on us. Etown shot 17-38 from the field for 44%, but our half court man to man forced them into 18 turnovers. We also mixed in our 3-2 zone and I thought that really forced them to perimeter shots and they hit 5-16 3's for 31%.
We shot 14-41 from the field and only 5-19 from 2 point range but we finally found our shooting stroke from the 3 point line as he hit 9-22 for 41%. We had 5 different players make 3's on the night, led by Wes Smith's 3, Hunter Gary's 3, Travis Johnston, Tyler Saltsman and Aaron Deviney had 1 a piece.
We got out rebounded for the game 29-27, but against the 6'10, 6'7 size front line I was pleased with the effort. Etown pulled down 11 offensive rebounds but we countered that with 10 of our own. Etown forced us into 20 turnovers which was a season high for us. We were led in rebounding by Bennett Skaggs with 8, Tyler Saltsman with 6 and Aaron Deviney and Hunter Gary had 4. Travis Johnston led us with 6 assits and 4 steals. Bennett Skaggs also had 4 steals as we had 14 steals during the game.
Bennett Skaggs was chosen the Player of the Game by scoring 4 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals. A great all around performance by Bennett. Aaron Deviney and Dustin Thomas played their best defense of the year against Etown's post players and that was a big key in the game.
Scoring:
Hunter Gary-11
Travis Johnston-11
Wes Smith-9
Aaron Deviney-9
Tyler Saltsman-7
Bennett Skaggs-4
