Panthers dominate Wapello in return to hardwood

PACKWOOD ? The Pekin boys? basketball team went right back to where it left off to open the second half of the season Tuesday.

Riding a seven-game winning streak entering winter break, the Panthers showed little rust in their return Tuesday, thoroughly dominating Wapello 65-36 to extend their streak to eight games.

The dominating performance has become something of an expected result for the Panthers (8-1, 7-1 SEISC north), who haven?t lost since a Dec. 2 game vs. IMS and have outscored opponents by 201 points in that span.

The Panthers took advantage of Wapello?s zone defense from the outset, using a patient approach on offense and good looks to get the ball into senior center Tater Clubb, who lit up the scoreboard for 13 of Pekin?s first 19 points.

?He does a great job sealing ? as good a job as anybody I?ve ever coached,? Hutchinson said of Clubb. ?We knew that if we could swing it a time or two and get those guards defensively to climb higher and higher up, we knew he was going to have looks.?

Clubb scored all 13 of his points in the first quarter while shooting 6-for-7 from the field and 1-for-1 from the free throw line. The senior also had team-highs in rebounds (5) and steals (2).

The Panthers opened the second period with a 15-7 run after grabbing a 21-4 first quarter lead. Nate Buch hit a 3 to extend the lead to 41-16 with two minutes left in the quarter. Tyson Lamb added to the total with two made shots from the charity stripe and Seth Jensen made a buzzer-beating layup to send Pekin into halftime with a 45-18 lead.

?Overall I was pretty pleased with the first half,? said Hutchinson. ?I thought our talk defensively was better tonight in the first half than what it?s been all year long.?

?We had a few unforced turnovers, but for the most part we played at the pace we wanted to the first half,? he added. ?I thought we were patient and got good looks, and I think our defense was pretty solid the first half.?

Although the Panthers slowed down their scoring considerably in the second half, scoring fewer points in the entire half than either the first or second quarters, they managed to outscore the Indians 20-18 the rest of the way.

Trey Sathoff led the Panthers with 17 points along with five boards, three assists and three blocks. Graham Wittrock, a junior, scored seven points and dished out six assists. Colton Swanson scored six, and Bryce Sines and Seth Jensen netted five points each. Tyson Lamb tallied four assists.

Next up for the Panther boys is a home contest vs. Lone Tree Friday night.

PEKIN ? Sathoff 6-11 4-6 17, Clubb 6-7 1-1 13, Wittrock 2-4 3-3 7, Swanson 2-3 0-0 6, Sines 2-3 1-2 5, Jensen 2-2 1-2 5, Sterling 2-2 0-0 4, Lamb 0-3 3-5 3, Buch 1-4 0-0 3, Hagedon 1-3 0-0 2, Donovan 0-2 0-0 0, Talley 0-0 0-0 0, Total 24-44 13-19 65

3-point goals ? Swanson 2, Sathoff 1, Buch 1. Rebounds ? Sathoff 5, Clubb 5. Assists ? Wittrock 6, Lamb 4, Sathoff 3. Steals ? Clubb 2. Blocks ? Sathoff 3.