Liberal, KS – Sophomore Austin Downing powered the Panthers to a late game road victory over the Seward County Saints Wednesday evening in Liberal Kansas.  Downing scored a season high 35 points leading the Panthers to an 86-83 victory.

"Austin had a big night for us," Coach Jeremy Coombs said. "Good teams have different guys step up on different nights and this was definitely his night."
 
Facing the #1 defense in the conference the Panthers would get off to a slow start scoring just 7 points in the first six minutes but the Panther defense stepped up and held the Saints to just 2 points in those six minutes giving them a 7-2 advantage. But the Saints wouldn't go away easy as they made a quick run to even the score at 13 a piece before Austin downing drained a 3 just before the media timeout to give the Panthers the lead at the midway point of the first half.
 
"We knew we would face lots of adversity during the game," Coombs said. "But I thought our guys did a great job of not letting it snowball on us."
 
The remainder of the first half seemed to be very similar to the first 10min but it was the Panthers finding a way to take a 40-38 lead into the locker-room at the halfway point.
 
"Going into the second half we all felt pretty confident that we were only going to win the game if we could find a way to get stops and not let them get a lot of easy baskets inside," Panther point guard Austin Downing said. "We figured that we trusted each other enough to get points on the board but we knew we had to be locked in defensively and attack them to win the game."
 
The second half was a back and forth battle much like the first, but the Panthers would finally take control in the final 2 minutes. An Austin Downing layup gave the Panthers an 80-78 lead. But the Saints wouldn't go away easy as they knocked down a three to go up 1 with just 31 seconds to play. The Panthers came storming back as they broke the Saints press and a Braden Larcom assist to Jariah Taylor ends up in an old-fashion 3-point play and Jariah Taylor made it count putting the Panthers up 2 point with just 23 seconds to go. Saints would then miss a 3 pointer and the Panthers finished off the game by knocking down 3 of their last 4 free throws to win 86-83.
 
Downing finished the game with 35pts going 11-18 from the field on 3-7 from 3 and 10-12 from the charity stripe to help lead the Panthers to a much-needed road victory.
 
"We just believed in one another and I tried my best to be the point guard I'm expected to be." Downing Said "I just trusted every one of them to make something happen on both ends of the floor."
 
The Panthers hit the road again Saturday as they travel to Colby Kansas for a 6pm tip.
 
Looking at the stats…
As a team the Panthers went 26-54 from the field 48.1%, 12-26 from 3-point range 46.2% and 22-28 from the free-throw line 78.6%.
 
Austin Downing 35pts
Montrell Dixson 11pts
Braden Larcom 10pts
Brandon Finner 9pts
Jariah Taylor 8pts
Tevin Downing 8pts
Samson Kohman 3pts
Lual Dung 2pts