Panthers Outrun Mustangs
DESPITE LOSS, COACH SAYS TEAM IS GETTING BETTER
The St. Mary’s Colgan Panthers scored the game’s first four points and never trailed on the way to a 65-43 win over McDonald County on Dec. 13 at MCHS.
Colgan led 12-4 at the end of the first period, then stretched the margin to 22-13 at halftime. Backto-back baskets by McDonald County’s Cooper Reece to open the second half cut the Panther lead to 22-17, but Colgan went on to outscore McDonald County 15-6 the rest of the quarter to take a 37-23 lead into the final period.
“We got better tonight,” said coach Kyle Fields. “The kids played hard, but I thought we kind of shot ourselves in the foot with so many turnovers. The game got a little quick for us at times, but we need to see that. They are a very athletic team, and their run-andjump defense is one of the best we will see this year. We did some
good things. I thought the first five minutes we came out with a lot of intensity, and defensively we did some good things. It was another step in the right direction.”
Reece and Rustan Lett both scored 10 points to lead McDonald County. Rounding out the scoring for the Mustangs were Boston Dowd with eight points, Brandon McAdams with five and Cole DelosSantos and Devon Aubrey two each.
Colgan’s Simon Higginbotham scored 22 points, including four three pointers, to lead the Panthers.
The Mustangs fall to 0-5 entering the Christmas break. The Mustangs begin play Tuesday, Dec. 27, in the Neosho Holiday Classic. McDonald County opens the tournament against North Little Rock at 2 p.m. at Neosho High School.
St. Mary’s made it a sweep of the boys’ games by also winning the junior varsity and freshman contests, including a 44-25 win in the JV game.
Dillon Aubrey scored 11 points to lead McDonald County followed by Lett with seven, Kirby Townsend, Andrew Landers and Tim Shields two each and Joe Brown one.
Colgan overcame a 19-9 McDonald County lead at halftime in the freshman game to claim a 34-30 decision. Walker Keith led McDonald County with 12 points followed by Tae-Shawn Alik with eight, Dylan Allison five, Ben Mora three and Kevin Martinez two.