Pekin boys score 50 points in the second half in rout over Highland
By Mark Schafer | The News-Review
DES MOINES – Stopping them seemed to be nearly impossible.
Especially in the second half. The Pekin boys basketball team took a bit to find their shot on Friday afternoon, but once they were, they made sure to prove that point over and over again.
The repeated shots helped the Panthers down Highland, 80-38, in a game played at the Casey’s Center.
While the Panthers roared to a comfortable win at the end of the game, it wasn’t always that easy.
In the first half the Panthers led 30-17 over Highland as the grandiose stage of the Casey’s Center seemed to slow down the Panther offense. After the first 16 minutes though, the bigger stage just started to feel like another game.
“It is so big and open,” said Alijah Brock, a junior guard for the Panthers. “The court is so much bigger than what we are used to in high school. The shots weren’t falling at first. Just a sick opportunity to play here. Especially to be able to get the win here is amazing.”;
Throughout the second half of the game, and especially in the third quarter the Panthers started to slow down their game and focus more on the little things. If they were able to take care of the little things then good things would happen.
“We wanted to stay true to our fundamentals,” senior guard Cole Millikin said after the game. “We really wanted to get ball pressure on these guys. We knew that was going to be something that was important to get into our offense that we wanted to run. We really wanted to do all of the little things right because we know that if the little things go right then the big things are going to go right as well. That’s how we approach basketball as a team.”
One thing the Panthers did well in the third quarter was getting defensive pressure on the Huskies.
Throughout the third quarter the Huskies would struggle to get the ball even to half court before one of the Panther players seemed to swarm all over the Huskie ball handler.
When the steals started to stack up, so did the points on the scoreboard.
“Getting steals really is like an energy feeder for us,” Millikin said. “Once we are able to get one then that creates energy for us five out there on the court. If we get the steals going then it is easy to get going. Easy buckets really help us a lot.”
The easy buckets started to stack up. Soon the lead started to soar for the PAnthers as well. They were able to lead by 25 points after the third quarter.
Overall the Panthers were able to score 30 total points in the third quarter, their best offensive performance of the year so far.
Things were just about to get even more lopsided as the Panthers continued to pour on the mix of offense and defense throughout the start of the fourth quarter.
For the first six minutes of the final frame the Panthers continued to control the scoreboard, and at times, the entire floor.
Pekin scored 20 unanswered points to start the final frame.
“It felt good to get the run that we had in the fourth quarter,” Millikin said. “It would have been nice to get that kind of energy going even sooner in the game, but it is always something that helps us no matter the time of the game.”
The Panthers were able to guide to a relatively easy victory, their sixth of the season.
One thing that playing on the biggest stage in Iowa did was just give the Panthers something more to play for by the end of the season.
“This was a great experience,” Brock said. “Not just to be able to come and play here, but also get the victory here. Winning here and playing here makes it clear we are going to be back here to play again.”
Unofficially the Panthers were led by Millikin who finished with 22 points. Riley Smith added 14 points. Another 12 points came off of Henry Adam. Alijah Brock had 10 points. Nolan Glick scored six points and Cal Miller finished with five points. Brogan Spray would add four points.
The win pushes Pekin to 8-2 overall on the season.
Photos by Mark Schafer
