Second half Pekin ?D? puts scorching hot Wapello on ice

PACKWOOD ? Wapello?s Taylor Jacobsmeier treated the fans in Packwood and the Pekin boy?s basketball team to a shooting clinic in the first half of Thursday night?s District 10 semifinal. Pekin put on a clinic of their own in the second half.

Jacobsmeier hit 9-11 shots from the field in the opening two quarters totaling 22 of Wapello?s 26 points in the half, but when he cooled off, it was the steadfast Panthers left standing as they continue their season with a 60-47 win.

In what is becoming a little bit of a routine, Pekin (20-3) shut down the Wapello (12-11) attack in the third quarter outscoring the Indians 13-4 in the period. The burst, as always with the Panthers, started on the defensive end as they held Jacobsmeier to zero points and draws comparisions to Pekin?s 16-6 third quarter Monday night in their opening round game against Columbus.

Columbus ran Pekin ragged in the first half Monday night and battled to a 26-26 tie at halftime only to feel the third quarter Pekin wrath.

?Tonight was a little different situation than against Columbus and I really think we competed better the first half. Jacobsmeier was just unconscious and he hit a lot of contested jump shots,? said Pekin head coach Art Sathoff. ?I don?t remember giving them a bunch of open lay ups like we did against Columbus.?

Wapello led 26-22 at the half, but as the third quarter began and they started to slow down, Pekin stepped on the accelerator taking it at the Indians time and time again. Trenton Northup, Trey Sathoff and Millikin all scored from close on the Panthers? first three possessions of the first half and Derek Robison?s free throw less than three minutes in give Pekin the lead for good.

The spree was part of a 13-2 run spanning the first eight minutes of the period where, once again, defense provided the impetus. The once hot Jacobsmeier who finished with 30 points, guarded primarily by Brady Lamb, didn?t attempt a single shot until the 3:15 mark ? a contested three-pointer that failed to hit iron.

?Derek Robison and Dalton Stone have been the defensive stoppers for us all year and they give everything they have. When you get a kid like that who is hitting everything and gets up pretty well on his jumper we went with Brady because he?s a little longer,? Sathoff said. ?At first, all that did was drive him back from an elbow jumper to a three-pointer, but Brady did a great job defensively and we sold out a little more on our double teams ? almost every time we did that he gave it up and somebody else was taking a shot that we didn?t mind.?

If there needs to be stats reflecting the affect the Pekin defense has on a team, look to Wapello?s shooting numbers in the second half. The Indians hit six of 30 attempts including an icy 2-20 from behind the arc.

?Sometimes if you just keep working hard, the opposing players will get a little fatigued, I think Jacobsmeier did and I know [Nick] Evensmeyer did down low ? Cody [Millikin] wore him down inside,? said Sathoff. ?We stuck with it and also got out in transition a little bit, which put more pressure on them.?

As Sathoff stated, Millikin was the workhorse in the paint for Pekin ? a role the senior is used to, and enjoys.

?I like the contact. I like the physical play,? Millikin said. ?We like to run people in and out, get up and down the floor, and it wears a lot of people out.?

Millikin finished with 19 points and eight rebounds hitting 6-9 from the field and 7-7 from the charity stripe including four straight points to begin the fourth quarter. The Panthers led 35-30 at the end of three and after Lamb found Millikin on Pekin?s first possession of the quarter, they did it again moments later on a play that highlighted Pekin?s wear-down affect they have on opponents.

Lamb saved a rebound from bouncing out of bounds, and as Wapello players stood around waiting for a whistle, the ball was already being pushed up-court where Millikin was waiting under the hoop for an easy two points to give his team a 39-30 lead.

The freshman Trey Sathoff also went to work down low scoring 23 points (6-7 FT?s) and pulling down nine rebounds ? both team highs.

Pekin was also able to rack up the fouls against Wapello and had no problem sinking the free throws that came with them. Pekin was whistled for just 11 fouls, compared to 27 from Wapello, and hit 24-32 free throws ? a number that gave them a 14-point disparity from the line.