Panthers? pace too much for Van Buren

PACKWOOD ? Pekin took more off the offensive glass than Van Buren had for total rebounds, and those numbers quickly added up to a big deficit in the second half.

The Panthers (9-5) finished with a 43-16 advantage on the boards, outscored the Warriors (5-8) 42-21 in the second half and wound up with a 77-50 non-conference victory Thursday night.

Pekin hit just one 3-pointer in the game and leading scorer Trey Sathoff was under his season average, but the Panthers still came up with their second-highest point total of the year.

?Initially, it wasn?t what we were going to go to, but they extended the pressure so much, it forced us to go to the paint,? said Pekin head coach Ken Hutchinson. ?We started working things through the high post, got some easy buckets and really played unselfishly on the offensive end.?

Sathoff finished with 20 points while Bryce Sines added 16 and Tater Clubb scored 12 ? most coming from close range.

Pekin held a six-point advantage at halftime, but Sines came up with two driving lay-ups as part of a 9-0 run to open the third quarter. Clubb received a nice feed from Graham Wittrock on a fast break as part of the burst as well, and it was just a sign of more things to come for Van Buren.

?We?re better than that and better than what our record shows. We lack confidence and can?t get everything together at once,? said Warrior head coach Fred Parsons. ?There were shots inside we should have hit and we didn?t. If it?s not that, it?s missing free throws and our rebounding was even worse.?

Of the 31 missed shots for Pekin, 19 ended up as offensive rebounds. The Panthers continued running and quickly built an insurmountable lead as 10 different players added to the scoreboard.

?We have nine people who can score, and I feel really confident about our bench,? Hutchinson said. ?Tonight was just one of those nights, that if they?re going to face-guard Trey and run two guys at him, everybody else can step it up.?

Things weren?t quite as easy in the first half as Van Buren stayed within three points after the first quarter and kept the deficit in the single digits for the entirety of the first half. Caleb Millard toughed out 10 points in the first half on his way to a team-high 12. Elliott Remick came up with nine points and Zach Boyd and Colin Weaver each scored eight for the Warriors mired in a brutal stretch of the schedule.

?The schedule is murderous. We come up to Pekin on the coldest night of the year, then go to Central Lee, then head to Notre Dame Monday,? Parsons said. ?It?s a terrible schedule. We?re not strong enough and too young.?

Van Buren will make that trip to Central Lee tonight while Pekin gets set for a road game against Louisa-Muscatine in hopes of avenging a loss from Dec. 10.