Chanute, KS - The Panther Men's Basketball team used a big second half to defeat the Cloud County T-Birds 84-80 on Wednesday night. The Panthers (13-10 overall, 6-7 in Conference) exploded for 56 points in the second half after posting just 28 points in the first.
 
Brian Tolefree led the Panthers with 25 points, 5 deep balls (4 in the second half) and knocked down 4 of 4 from the charity stripe. Sai Fisher also stepped up and scored 21 points on 8 of 14 shooting, while Jay McMiller dropped 14 points on the T-Birds.
 
Early in the game, the Panthers found themselves in a battle but the T-Birds that made a big run and led the Panthers by 9 points at the first media time out. The T-Birds extended that lead as much as 23 points in the first half, but the Panthers closed the gap before half and trailed the T-Birds by 16 points as they headed into the locker room at the midway point of the game.
 
"Honestly I don't have an answer to why we didn't show up to play in the first half." Head Coach Jeremy Coombs said, "We just looked like we didn't want to be there."
 
The Panthers started their strong second half three minutes into the second half when Coach Coombs pulled all five of his starters and replaced them with a fresh five. James Taylor, Sai Fisher, Shannon Cordes, Chol Adup and Davion Benton gave the Panthers a spark they needed to get things going.
 
"I couldn't be more proud of those young men." Coombs said, "They deserve so much credit for this win."
 
After a Sai Fisher layup and a Coombs timeout, the Panthers had cut the T-Bird lead to 6 points with 13:16 left to play. Over the next three minutes, the Panthers continued to get stops and only trailed 60-61 going into the media timeout.
 
"We chipped away one possession at a time." Brian Tolefree said, "We knew we could get back in this game and knew it would all start on the defensive end."
 
The Panthers would finally take the lead at the 6:12 mark with a Brian Tolefree three pointer. The Panthers did not stop there as they put together a string of stops and took their largest lead of the night at the 5:31 mark off a layup by Sai Fisher, which pushed the lead to 73-67.
 
In the final minutes of the game, the Panthers put the T-Birds away and grabbed their 13th win of the season with a final score of 84-80.
 
Next up this Saturday evening, the Panthers will host cross county rivals Allen County. Tip is set for 7:30 pm. Saturday will also be the Panthers Annual Autism Awareness night.
 
For more information on the Panther men's basketball team, visit GoNeosho.com or follow @GoNeoshoHoops on Twitter.