PHS boys basketball wins at El Diamante

VISALIA - After dropping their opening two games of East Yosemite play the Panthers couldn’t afford another slip up on Thursday night at El Diamante if they wanted to keep their league championship hopes alive. After a slow start the Panthers were indeed able to stay in the EYL race with a hard fought 44-38 win over the Miners in Visalia.

After El Diamante jumped on top 5-0 PHS was able to go on an 8-0 run, getting back to back three point shots by Jace Balangue and Andrew Moody to take a 8-5 lead. El Diamante got a three point bucket from Santhan Guijarro to tie things up at eight to end the first quarter.

The Miners went up four early in the second quarter on Guijarro back to back jumpers but PHS tied things back up when Erik Odsather scored on a nice post move and a mid range jumper to tie things at 14. The Miners ended the quarter on a 6-0 run to take a 20-14 halftime lead.

Odsather got a quick bucket and two free throws to score the first points of the third quarter, only to see the Miners Ernie Morales hit a three point shot to build the lead back to 23-18. After a Cam Haynes layup made it 23-20 PHS went on a 12-3 run to end the quarter, taking the lead at the 1:09 mark on a Balangue running jump shot. Cooper Fish and Balangue both made a pair of free throws to give PHS a 32-26 lead after three quarters.

The Miners weren’t going away without a fight as they came out and scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter to capture the lead back at 3432. A Odsather layup tied it at 34 and then El Diamante recaptured the lead at 35-34 on a free throw by Guijarro.

The Panthers took the lead for good at the 3:45 mark when Moody drained a three point bucket from the right corner. PHS picked up the pace using full court pressure, getting a steal and bucket from Odsather to build the lead to 39-35. It was all free throws from that point on as Moody knocked down 5 of 6 from the charity stripe to secure the win.

Moody led all Panther scores with 13 while Odsather was right behind with 11. Guijarro led all scorers in the game with 17.

PHS evens its league record at 2-2 and will host cross town rival Monache on Wednesday at Sharman Gym.