The Masuk Panthers were defeated by SWC rival Pomperaug 72-63 on Monday night at David Strong Gymnasium. The Panthers endured a sloppy second quarter, allowing their opposition to run out to a lead of 11 points just before halftime before scoring the final 4 points of the frame.
“In the first half, we had the chance to open it up a little, but we got ourselves into foul trouble,” said coach John DeGennaro. “That sort of took away our rhythm of what we were doing defensively, and that’s when they made a run on us.”
Action in the first quarter saw several lead changes, as both teams were getting a feel for each other’s game plan. Pomperaug stole the ball on Masuk’s first possession, which led to the first points of the game.
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Coach DeGennaro continued to preach patience and discipline to his players on the bench, which seemed to motivate them down the stretch. Matt Gerak scored Masuk’s final 7 points of the quarter (and 13 for the game), as the Panthers took a 15-13 lead into the second.
“We took some steps. I thought in the first quarter, we played some of our best offense and got some good looks,” said DeGennaro.
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After a nifty layup and foul by Jalen Graham (team-high 23 points), Masuk opened up a 3 point lead at 20-17 just about a minute into the second quarter. However, things began to unravel for the Panthers after that.
Pomperaug big men Andre Makris (22 points) and Tim Harris (23 points, 15 rebounds) began controlling the boards, not allowing any offensive rebounds or second-chance shots.
DeGennaro: “Makris and Harris, they got 45 tonight. We had a hard time containing them.”
After an 11-0 run by Pomperaug, Masuk saw a 3-point lead turn into a 7-point deficit going into halftime, 31-24.
A 3-pointer by Graham capped a 6-0 run by the Panthers to open the third, cutting the deficit to one at 31-30. But continuing their strong play from the first half, Pomperaug seemed to be making big stops when they needed to and built the lead back to eight. The end of the quarter saw Masuk back in a 48-42 hole.
“I don’t know if they (Pomperaug) took more than one or two questionable shots the whole game, so they did a good job,” said coach DeGennaro. “Our game plan was to keep the tempo up, and take the big guys out of the game that way. We kept them off the boards well, but I don’t think we defended them well when they had the ball.”
Masuk never got closer than four points for the rest of the game, as Panther fouls put Pomperaug on the line 17 times in the fourth quarter alone (making 13 of them). Despite the constant press applied by Masuk, Pomperaug was able to break it more than once for easy buckets. When the final buzzer sounded, Pomperaug handed Masuk (11-4) a 72-63 loss.
“We out-rebounded them, and the turnovers according to our stats were 16-4. But they made shots, and we did not. Hats off to them, they’re a very good basketball team,” said DeGennaro.
Anthony DeLorenzo chipped in with 15 points for Masuk.
“We’ve got to regroup,” said DeGennaro. “We did some things offensively and got a lot of good looks. So we’ve got to build on that and go to work.”
The Panthers will look to rebound this Friday at home, when they take on Bunnell. Tip off will be at 7 p.m.
“We’ve had a couple of setbacks the last couple of weeks, but it’s a long season. Our league tournament wasn’t won tonight,” said DeGennaro.
