CHANUTE - The Panthers dropped another conference road game Saturday afternoon moving to 2 and 3 in conference play. All three conference losses have been close games, but the Panthers haven't figured out how to finish out games on the road in order to secure a road victory.
After a great first half start, the Panthers would come out shooting from deep connecting on 6 three-balls and shot an outstanding 9 of 10 from the free-throw line. Neosho looked as if they would walk away with the game, but the scrappy Pratt Beavers put together a solid second half to push the Panthers into overtime.
"We had our opportunities throughout the second half to pull away but we just flat struggled to execute offensively and defensively." Panther Head Coach
Jeremy Coombs said, "I think Pratt just wanted it more than we did and that's super disappointing."
In the last 30 seconds of the ball game, the Panthers had two crucial turnovers and gave up two offensive boards that led to Pratt scores. One of those late scores was a Jamel Horton free-throw with 3.2 seconds that would tie the game at 70 apiece. Jonathan Breeland would then heave up a half-court shot that would come up short and the Panthers would find themselves headed into overtime with the home team Pratt Beavers.
In overtime, the Beavers came out hot taking a quick five-point lead, but Neosho would come storming back to tie the game at 77 but the Beavers would hold off the Panthers to win 80 to 77.
"Again, in overtime, our lack of execution hurt us offensively and on top of that we couldn't get stops when we really needed them," Coombs said, "We're not even trying to do the right things defensively and this needs to be fixed before we play again Wednesday."
The Panthers will return home Saturday to take on the Garden City Broncbusters. Tip is set for 7:30 pm here at the Panther Gymnasium.
"Garden is a team that can really score the ball and they just added a D1 transfer big man to their roster" Coombs said "We will take the next few days and really focus on our execution and see if we can't get back on track."
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