CHANUTE, KS - The Neosho County Men's Basketball team looked to build off Monday night's win over the Allen County Red Devils but ran out of steam in the second half Wednesday night vs (RV) Butler. The Panthers also squared off with Coffeyville on Thursday evening and came up short in the second half as well. The Panthers would hang tight in both first halves but would fall short in the second half of each game, falling to the Grizzlies 86-68 and to the Red Ravens 95-66.

In Wednesday's slug fest with Butler, the Panthers would battle toe to toe but a late first half run by Butler would give them a two-point advantage at the half, leading the Panthers 37-35. Thursday night would look much like Wednesdays first half with a back-and-forth battle with the #4 Ravens. Despite Cougar Downing's big first half hitting 6 bombs from three-point land the Panthers would not be able to hold on to the lead as the Ravens would take a 39-34 lead into the locker room.

Head Coach Jeremy Coombs on the losses, "I was proud of our first half efforts, I thought the guys went out and battled for the first 20 minutes and did some really nice things in the first half of both games."

Both games were a tale of two halves, as the Panthers would hang around for a while but just seemed to run out of steam. Butler would come out on fire shooting 54% from the floor and 35% from three-point range in the 2nd half to beat the Panthers 86-68. Much like the Grizzlies did the night before, the Ravens would also come out shooting lights out knocking down 12 of 25 three pointers to put the Panthers away 95-66.

"No doubt it's been a rough stretch of basketball for us, and we look like a team that's played a lot of games and hasn't practiced a lot. Playing all these make up games in such a short period of time probably wasn't the greatest idea but it's the hand we've been dealt and we've got to play it."-Jeremy Coombs

UP NEXT
Neosho will travel to Cloud County on Saturday, March 27, for a 4:00 PM tip-off, in Concordia, KS.  Last time the two teams met, the Panthers walked away with an 84-70 victory here in Chanute.  After Saturday's game the Panthers will travel to Independence on Wednesday March 31st, and then host the Cowley Tigers Friday, April 2nd, in a makeup game to end the regular season. These last couple of home games will end the regular season portion of the schedule, before jumping into Region VI tournament play.

Keep up to date with the latest information from the Neosho Panthers at @GoNeoshoHoops on Twitter, Instagram, and on Facebook.