El Dorado, KS - The Panther Men's Basketball team started slow in the first half. Neosho struggled to make shots going 9-36 from the floor and 1-13 from behind the 3-point line in Saturday night's game at Butler County Community College.

"Unfortunately it was one of those nights where we just couldn't buy a bucket," Head coach Jeremy Coombs said "Sometimes those nights happen, but when they do you better play defense or it ends up being a long night."

Unfortunately, the Grizzlies heated up and went on a big 9-0 run just after the media timeout to give Butler a 21-11 lead. The Panthers responded with their only three pointer of the half by Braden Larcom, but could not get things rolling as they went to the locker room down 25-42.

The Panthers made the second half interesting as they cut into the Butler lead to make it 46-52 with 15 minutes left to play.

"I thought our effort in the second half was night and day from the first half," Coombs said "but 20 minutes of basketball won't win you many games. You must play 40 minutes to deserve a victory."

The Panthers continued to chip away at the lead. Neosho closed the lead to three points, but Butler got hot from beyond the arch and pulled away to take an 83-73 victory.

The Panthers finish their regular season Monday night as the Barton Cougars come to Chanute for a 7:30pm tip off. This final home game will also be sophomore night for the Panthers.