COLBY, KS - For the second year in a row, the Neosho Panthers Men's Basketball Team took down the Colby Trojans with an 83 to 75 road win Monday night in Colby Kansas. This game was originally scheduled for November 27th but was canceled due to the inability to travel due to severe weather out west. 
 
The Panthers would jump out to an early lead on the Trojans and would lead most of the game with their sharpshooting and ability to knock down their free throws. The Panthers Shot an outstanding 89% from the charity stripe compared to the Trojans 55%.
 
"This team is young and we are starting to come together at the right time," Head Jeremy Coombs said. "Our guys have bought into both sides of the ball and they followed the scouting report perfectly and played as a team."
 
Both teams would get out to a slow start as it looked to be a defensive battle but a deep three from Tory Cargo would open up the floodgates for the Panthers as they went on a 9 to 4 run just before the first media timeout and would lead 20 to 14. After the break, the Panthers start to widen the lead with a barrage of threes by freshman guard Corbett Kimberlin and would give the Panthers their largest lead the game at 33 to 20. But the Trojans wouldn't go away making a run before the half with Alexandre Fanchini knocking down a three from the right-wing and Javion Maywould knock down 4 of 5 from the free-throw line. To cut the Panther lead to 6 points (40 to 34) at the half.
 
The second half was much like the first with the Panthers coming out strong while the Trojans struggled to score the ball. But Colby would make a run and would make a 6 to 0 run to cut the Panther lead to 58 to 57 at the second-half media timeout. The Panthers would play physical but the Trojans had the edge inside as they scored 26 points in the paint to the Panthers 18 points and would win the glass grabbing 18 offensive boards and scoring 20 second-chance points.
 
"We struggled on the glass in the second half but we didn't allow them easy buckets and put them on the line several times." Coombs said, "Luckily they struggled badly from the line and only shot 55%."
 
The biggest story of the game was the point explosion from the Neosho bench. Jadis White would lead the Panther bench with 17 points going 6 for 9 from the free-throw line, while James Taylor tossed in 11 points. The Panther bench would outscore Colby's bench 37 to 17. 
 
"I'm proud of the bench for stepping up and playing so well this game." Coombs said, "Not every player is going to play amazing every game and having guys step up to fill those voids is what makes team hard to beat."
 
Five Panthers landed in double figures, leading all scorers with 17 points off the bench thanks to 9 for 10 from the free-throw line and 2 for 2 from the three-point line was Jadis White. Freshman Corbett Kimberlin dropped 16 points on 7 for 7 from the free-throw line and 3 for 5 from deep. Freshman Tory Cargo added 13 while James Taylor added 11 points and Freshman Daniel Titus finished with 10 points. 
 
The Panthers will get one day to prepare for the Butler Grizzlies as they return to the court Wednesday evening as they travel to Butler County for Eastern Conference matchup at 7::30pm.  Butler is coming off a 78 to 73 victory over Garden City Community College.
 
For more information, go to www.goneosho.com or follow @GoNeoshoHoops or GoNeosho on Twitter for updates throughout the year.