After losing to the host school at a tournament in Pratt this weekend, the NCCC Panthers men's basketball team roared back for a resounding 92-55 victory over the JV squad from Ottawa University.
“Tonight was one of those nights we wanted to bounce back, wanted to play well, wanted to execute and do the things that we normally do,” Neosho County Coach
Jeremy Coombs said, “so it's a pretty good night.”
The Panthers dominated the contest from the beginning, leading Ottawa by 27 points at the half. Five of the Panthers players scored in double digits in the rout.
Brison White led the team with 19 points, while
Gregoryshon Magee and
Chris Patton each scored 14. Patton also had 12 rebounds in the game.
Brett Jones shot for 12 points, and
Antonio Buchanan had 10.
The game afforded Neosho County's players plenty of opportunities for crowd-pleasing dunks. However, according to Coombs, success in a game like this consists of things that people in the crowd don't see. “It's the execution; it's whether we're in the right spot on defense. If we can do things out of timeouts, like a certain play and do it properly, that's success,” Coombs said. “And that's really, at this point in time, what we're working on.”
Games against opponents like the Ottawa JV team give the Panthers a chance to practice what they're doing in a game situation.
“One of the things we worked on tonight was getting into our press off of made buckets, and I thought we did a really good job of it,” Coombs said, “so it's all about trying to get this thing going and trying to get everything on the right pace, so when we do get to conference, everything's nice and smooth.”
After this victory, the Panthers men's team is officially on break; they won't play again until they host the Sonic Schootout New Year's Classic at the end of December. Winter break at the school starts on Dec. 18. Coombs said the team will practice every day until then, and then the players will be on break for seven or eight days. He then will try to get them back on track again.
“I don't like sending the kids home because you work so hard to get them where you want them,” Coombs said. “It seems like you're just now getting there, and then send them home and they kind of lose some things, and then you've got to get them back again.”
