The Neosho County Panthers improved to 4-0 on the season with a pair of wins over the weekend at the Brown Mackie Classic in Salina, KS. Friday the Panthers downed Johnson County 98-89. Saturday against host Brown Mackie, the Panthers won a shootout against the No. 5 ranked Lions 114-107.

The Cavaliers held the Panthers under 100 points for the first time all season, however Neosho's 98 points would prove to be enough. Neosho took a 15 point lead into the locker room at half time, but Johnson would battle back in the second half to make the game tight.

The Panthers eventually put the game away thanks in large part to 31 points from the free throw line. The Panthers finished the game 31-46 from the charity stripe compared to just 21-28 from the Cavaliers. It was BJ Jenkins that helped close the game out down the stretch as the freshman point guard went 12-14 from the line with most of them coming in the second half.

Jenkins scored a team high 25 points to go with 7 assists. Joseph Acuil added 17 points and 6 rebounds while Charles Cooper and Brett Frantz added 14 and 12 to round out the double digit scorers.

After facing their first real test of the year on Friday, the Panthers would be tested yet again on Saturday. The Panthers found themselves behind at halftime for the first time all season. Brown Mackie led 56-49 at the half but the Panthers chipped away at the lead.

They found themselves in a tricky situation, however, when 6-11 sophomore Henry Buckley fouled out with 12 minutes to go, and 7-0 freshman Joseph Acuil picked up his fourth foul only minutes later. The Panthers went with a smaller lineup then, and it proved to be the difference as they went on an 8-0 to take the lead which they never gave up.

"With Joe and Henry in foul trouble we had to go small," said head coach Jeremy Coombs. "But that allowed us to really push the pace and look to get out and run. Having Jamie back really helped, but we got great production from a lot of different people."

Seven different Panthers scored in double figures on the night led by 18 from Jenkins. Jamie Batish added 17 on 6 of 8 shooting including 4-4 from behind the arc after missing 2 games with a sprained ankle. Kyler Steadman scored 16 to go with a game high 9 rebounds. Brett Frantz and Charles Cooper each finished with 14 while Acuil and Jelanie Pruit added 11 and 10.

"Brown Mackie is a tough team to match up with because they have the bigs and some great shooters," he said. "We had a hard time figuring out how to guard them. We took our bigs out and went small, it just worked."

The Panthers once again took advantage of their opportunities at the free throw line. After shooting just 10-20 from the line in the first half, the Panthers connected on 21-30 attempts in the second half. They also shot a blistering 69% from behind the three point line lead by Batish's 4-4 and Frant's 4-6.

Neosho improves to 4-0 on the year with the two wins. They will be back in action this weekend when they host the Neosho Hoops Classic. They will take on Raleigh Finest Sports Academy Friday at 7:30. Saturday night with feature the Panthers and the SEK All-Stars, formerly Neosho Elite. The SEK All-Stars include faces that will be familiar to Chanute sports fans including Devin and Dustin Eccles as well as Chanute High School coaches Max Ruark and Duston Fox.