CHANUTE - Redshirt freshmen
Brian Tolefree scored 21,
Magic Reliford scored 19,
Davion Benton 18 and
Jay McMiller added 15 points to help the Panthers to another Jayhawk conference win as they shot past the Pratt Beavers 94-88 Saturday evening at the Panther Gymnasium.
The Panthers (11-5, 4-2) were down by as much as 14 points in the first half due to poor shooting and lack of defense.
"I just didn't think we were ready to play." Head Coach
Jeremy Coombs said, "I felt it in shoot around and in the locker room before the game and that's my fault for not having them focused."
The Panthers would head into the locker room at half down 51-39.
"Honestly it felt like we were down 30." Coombs said, "We just couldn't get anything thing going offensively and just couldn't get a stop to save our lives."
The second half was much different as it only took the Panthers 5:34 seconds to finally regain the lead and from that point the Panthers never looked back.
"We just started playing our game." Coombs said, "We put together several stops defensively and took great shots on the offensive end."
Great shots indeed, the Panthers went on a 13-2 run and would take a 10 point lead at the media timeout. In the second half the Panthers shot 62% from the field, 66% form behind the arch.
In the last 10 minutes of the game the Beavers wouldn't go away quietly. Pratt would put together a couple big stops forcing the Panthers into turnovers. Pratt then capitalized on those turnovers by knocking down a pair of threes to cut Neosho's lead to 4. The Panthers would eventually put the Beavers away by knocking down 8 of its last 9 free throws and would end the game shooting 86% from the charity stripe for the game.
Neosho now 11-5 overall and 4-2 in Jayhawk play. The Panthers will now hit the road for their last 2 Jayhawk West crossover games.
Wednesday the Panthers will head west for Garden City to take on the Broncbusters. Tip is set for 8pm at the Conestoga Arena on the campus of Garden City Community College.
For more information on the Panther men's basketball team, visit GoNeosho.com or follow @GoNeoshoHoops on Twitter.
