Pana boys muzzle Bulldogs, 46-26

Tom Latonis

Breeze-Courier Writer

(PANA) — The Pana Panthers boys basketball team dominated the boards and knocked off the Staunton Bulldogs in South Central Conference action, 46-26, on Friday in the Pana High School gym. Pana remains in first place in the South Central Conference with a 4-0 record.

“Staunton is well coached and they came out trying to slow things way down. They ran a minute off their first possession and our defensive pressure caused a turnover,” Adam Metzger, head coach of the Panthers said. “It was like 5-4, then our pressure got a steal or two, we started rebounding, running and executed well on the offensive end at times.”

Pana forced the Bulldogs into 26 turnovers in the game. At halftime, Staunton had more turnovers than points, 13 turnovers to 11 points.

Senior Kyle Kuhn led Pana and all scorers with 16 points and he had 6 rebounds. Brenden Schoonover put in 14 points and had 6 boards as well. Max Lynch finished with 7 points and five rebounds.

Drew Hackler controlled the glass for Pana with 8 rebounds and he scored 4 points. Colin Schmitz and Devon Peebles each scored 2 points with Schmitz having 6 rebounds. As a team, Pana collected 37 rebounds to 9 for the Bulldogs.

The Panthers went out to a 16-5 first quarter lead and were on top, 29-11, at the break. In the third quarter, Pana established a 41-15 lead.

In free throws, Pana made half of theirs, 2-for-4 and Staunton was a perfect 5-of-5.

Adam Overby and Brady Gillen were Staunton’s top scorers with 10 points apiece.

Pana, 21-2, hosted the Rochester Rockets in non-conference action on Saturday. A re-cap of that game will appear in the Monday edition of the Breeze-Courier.