Peninsula Boys JV Basketball Team Meets Tournament Host Westchester in 2nd Round of Tournament

The 2nd round of the Trevor Ariza Tip-Off Holiday Tournament saw the Might Comets facing off against a much smaller and younger Peninsula Panther team that was missing 3 of their so-called big men (6-02, 6-02, and 5-11) due to illnesses. The game began with the Comets immediately going to work in the Panthers inside and they raced out to a commanding 14-4 lead mid-way through the quarter.  The Panthers after a quick timeout recollected themselves and went out and outscored the Comets for the remainder of the quarter 7-3 to close the first quarter of play at 17-11. The Comets were scoring at will on the inside against the smaller Panthers and it almost appeared that they were just playing with the smaller kids.

The 2nd quarter began with a continuation of the 1st quarter where the Panthers watched the Comets come down the court and methodically attack the Panthers in the paint establishing their inside presence over the much smaller Panthers. Mid-way through the quarter the Panthers suddenly picked up their defensive intensity and they began to limit the much bigger Comets to one shot on the basket. The Panthers began to increase the speed and tempo of the game and came within 2 points of the Comets. The Panthers with 2 minutes to go in the quarter appeared to be out of gas at this time and the Comets were able to push the lead back up to 8 and the first half ended with the Comets leading 33-25.

The Panthers came out in the 3rd quarter as is the end of the 2nd quarter never ended, the Comets again were able to push the lead up to 12 points when the Panthers again decided to get down to business. The Panthers began running against the Comets who were now showing cracks in their mighty armor and the Panthers slowly began chopping away at their 12 point lead. The Panthers continued with the tough swarming defense and out scored the Comets 14-11 in the quarter and trailed 44-39.

The Panthers and Comets came out for the final 8 minutes of the game and each side appeared to play with the intent of showing the other team that they were going to lose this game. The intensity of all the players was extremely high and they went back and forth scoring against each other. The Panthers managed on several occasions to come back and tie the score only to see the Comets come down the court and attack the Panthers in the paint and score easy baskets. With 2 minutes to go in the game the Comets began trying to slow the game down and run time off the clock as they held on to a 5 point lead. The Comets had run the 35 second shot clock down to under 10 seconds when Won’ya Singleton of the Panthers stole the pass and raced down the court towards the Comets basket. Two Comets raced back and caught Singleton who tried to change his direction and lost his footing and as he fell to the court the ball bounced out of bounds and went back to the Comets.  With 1:25 remaining on the clock the Comets again came down the court and began working the clock. The Panthers however, remained strong and caused a 35 second shot clock violation and still trailed by 5 points. With the score 57-52 the Panthers came down and worked the ball around and as the shot clock was close to expiring Cade Goodman drove down the lane and the Comet defense collapsed on him. Goodman was able to find Singleton all alone in the right corner and he calmly hit a 3 pointer as the shot clock expired. The Panthers now trailed 57-55 with  22 seconds to go in the game and the Panthers dug in deep trying to play good defense again. The Panthers were forced to foul the Comets with 3.2 seconds remaining in the game and the Comets went to the line and missed both free throws. The Panthers rebounded the ball and passed to Singleton who was wide open on the left side and he shot a 3/4 court shot that came up short of the basket. The Panthers lost 57-55 but it was a good and hard fought game. The Panthers