Liberal, KS. -- The Panthers fall short at knocking off the #18 team in the country, when a late rally by the Seward Saints sinks the Panthers 99-83 on the road. 

    The Panthers would take an early 5-0 lead before the Saints would get on the board, but the rest of the half was a seesaw battle. The Saints responded with a 10-2 run followed by another Panther 14-4 run. The Panthers would cap off the half with a 6-0 run to give the Panthers a 33-32 lead at the midway point of the game. "I thought both teams played extremely hard." Head Coach Jeremy Coombs said "I thought we attacked the paint well and played sold team defense tonight."

    In the second half the Panthers would come out flat giving up several easy buckets as the Saints would go on a 7-2 run to open the second half. "We tend to do that" Coombs Said "If we want to win games like this we've got to play 40 minutes." After a Panther timeout Neosho went on another run to regain the lead as Tolefree converted an old fashion three point play to lock things up at 48 points each. However, in the final three minutes of the game the Saints would go on a 13-1 run to finish off the Panthers. "We made some critical mistakes down the stretch." Coombs said "We had some silly turnovers and missed some big freebies that ultimately finished us off."

    The Panthers now 11-8 overall and 4-5 in conference play, wrap up Jayhawk West play and now move into east action. The Panthers will host Butler Community College (13-7) (6-5) Wednesday. Tip is set for 7:30 pm.

For more information on the Panther men's basketball team, visit GoNeosho.com or follow @GoNeoshoHoops on Twitter.