Once Neosho began to exert its will inside, the Panthers path to the second round of the Region VI tournament seemed to be secured. A dominant interior effort was enough for the Panthers to shake off a relentless Pratt Beavers in an 89-85 first-round win at the Dennis Lesh Sports Arena Monday evening. The win gives the Panthers the opportunity to move on to the second round of the KJCCC Region VI tournament.
Coach Coombs on the win, "I thought the guys rose to the occasion. It's hard to win any on the road, and for us to step up and finish the way we did, was a testament to our guy's toughness and resilience."
In non-Panther fashion, the typical sharp shooting Panthers would only knockdown 3 three-pointers in each half (6-22) 27.3 percent for the game. But it was the relentless efforts to get the ball inside and get to the basket that led to the Panthers scoring 46 points in the paint and knocking down 31 of 42 from the charity stripe, that allowing the Panthers to walk away with the victory.
"The tough Jayhawk East has taught these guys one thing and that is we can't live and die by the three. I think we are also buying into the fact that our defense can keep us in game when our offense isn't clicking in all cylinders."- Head Coach Jeremy Coombs
The defense Coombs mentioned forced the Beavers into 12 turnovers and allowed them to capitalize on all but 3 of them. It also helped the Panthers hold the Beavers below their season points per game average.
The Panthers would see a huge contribution from Daniel Titus, who scored a career-high 31 points on 9 of 18 shooting, 2 of 8 from downtown and 11 of 14 from the free-throw line.
Coach's thoughts on the play of Daniel Titus, "Titus has really stepped up the last half of the season and is dominating like we expected him to. I felt he would have some mismatches on the floor, and he stepped up and took advantage of them."
Cougar Downing continued his dominance as he scored 23 points on 7 of 13 from the floor, 3 for 6 from three-point land and 6 of 7 from the free-throw line. Magic Reliford still managed to chip in 18 points while being face guarded, as he has been for much of the season. Reliford never saw a good look from three but managed to muster 10 of his 18 points at the free-throw line.
UP NEXT
Neosho will turn their focus to the hot shooting #16 Cowley Tigers and will travel to Arkansas City, Kansas, for the second round of Region game Wednesday evening for a 7:00 PM tip.
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