Peninsula Survives 2nd Contest Against Culver City at Home

On Wednesday afternoon at 4:00 PM the Peninsula Panthers Frosh/Soph Basketball Team took on Culver City in the Peninsula HS main gym. The Panthers had met the Centaurs last week in the City of Angels Tournament and prevailed 69-32. This time was different due to many new players being on the Culver City team. The two teams came out of the gate slowly and Peninsula began to hit their stride sooner than the Centaurs did. The score at the end of the first quarter was 13-6 in favor of the Panthers. The Panthers were not going to the basket and were settling for jump shots and not being overly aggressive towards the basket.

The 2nd quarter began and the Panthers began to get turnovers out of their press and they struggled to put the ball in the basket. They were missing numerous easy shots and they were not very sharp on the defensive end of the floor. Fortunately for the Panthers the Centaurs were also struggling to find anything that would work for them consistently. They too missed easy baskets and began to settle for long range jump shots. The Panthers again outscored the Centaurs 10-7 in the quarter to take a 23-13 halftime lead.

The 3rd quarter began and the Panthers seemed to be more focused and willing to move the ball around. They also found wide open teammates under the basket for easy lay-ups. The Panthers however lost their edge on the defensive end of the floor and the bigger Centaurs began pounding the offensive backboards and were getting easy put backs. The game went back and forth for the majority of the 3rd quarter with the Panthers outscoring the Centaurs 21-15 to take a 44-28 lead heading into the 4th and final quarter.

The Panthers began substituting and the new players were failing to move the ball as the others had and the Panthers stopped moving on offense and began launching 3 point attempts that were quickly rebounded by the Centaurs and raced down the court. The Panthers did an okay job in coming back on defense but if it were not for the missed opportunities by the Centaurs the Panthers would have been in a dog fight. The Panthers prevailed in the end by outscoring the Centaurs 15-13 in the final stanza to take the game 59-41. The Panthers will next face a very tough and talented North Torrance Team on next Wednesday at 4:30 PM in the Peninsula Main Gym. We hope to see you there.

The Panthers were led tonight by freshman Ethan Ikegami (18 Points, 1 rebound, 2 steals), sophomore Hudson Guagliano (11 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists), sophomore Jacob Salceda (9 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals) and freshman Matt Lagleva (7 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 5 steals).