CHANUTE, KS -- The Panther men's basketball team squared off with Jayhawk West preseason #2 team last night in the Panther Gymnasium. The Panthers ended up coming away with a tough result in the form of an 88-99 setback at the hands of the Dodge City Conquistadors (Conqs). The Panthers would hold a four-point lead with 3:31 left in the first half but it was the Conqs who outscored the Panthers in the final 3 minutes to take an eight points lead into the locker room at halftime.

Coach Coombs stated, "late in that first half four of our starters were in foul trouble and it allowed them to make that late run. Our bench needs to be better and step up in situations like that".

HOW IT HAPPENED

A hard fought opening half of play saw the Panthers and Conqs battle back and forth. However, in the second half the Panthers played the Conqs to an even game and never overcame the first half deficit. The Panthers would outshoot Dodge City from the field (NCCC – 19-35 - 54.3%) (DCCC – 23-44 52%) but it was the shooting of Dhieu Deing who shot 7-10 from downtown and scored a career high 37 points that would carry the Conqs past the Panthers.

Coach Coombs on Deing, "He's obviously a good shooter but we didn't do ourselves any favors by allowing him open looks early. We allowed him to get comfortable and then when we finally covered out on him his confidence was already very high."

The Panthers would get a big game from De'Antray Hughes as he grabbed 14 rebounds and scored 19 points. Hughes only flaw in the game was that he went 5 for 11 from the free-throw line. Magic Reliford would chip in 17 points, Tremaine Chesley added 16 points, Deondre Buggage scored 11, and Daniel Titus contributed 10 points.

KEY NUMBERS

Wednesday's game was marred by a combined 41 personal fouls, leading to 24 free throw attempts for the Panthers and 33 by the Conqs. Dodge City shot 60.6 percent (20-33) at the line compared to just 58.3 percent (14-24) by Neosho. The Panthers would win the turnover battle as they forced the Conqs into 13 turnovers and only committed 11.

UP NEXT

The Panthers will look to bounce back on the road as they will head to Hutchinson Community College to take on the #14 Blue Dragons this Saturday evening at the Hutchinson Sports Arena. Tip-off is set for 7:30 P.M. Live stream will be available at: https://www.kjcccsports.net/hutchcc/?B=224846. Audio to the game can also be found at: https://streamdb5web.securenetsystems.net/v5/KHUT

For more information, go to www.goneosho.com or follow @GoNeoshoHoops or GoNeosho on Twitter for updates throughout the year.