Written by: Danny Talbert
Parker Gonzalez's dominant and steady offensive performance pushes the Panthers past Birmingham-Southern 98-85.
Game details
First half play by play details
-Both teams came out running press defense.
-LC was able to take advantage of the aggressive defense when Cam Lyons found Parker Gonzalez wide open under the basket for Gonzo to put the Panthers up 7-3 early.
-The Panthers left the press but BSC continued to run the defense reminiscent of the VCU rams. Each time LC would bring the ball up the court, BSC would look to trap the Panthers guard as he stepped across the half court.
-Samuel Moss put his athleticism on display early, when he sliced through the BSC defense to extend the Panther lead to 15-10.
-LC finished their eight-point run to go up 21-11.
-The smooth ball movement and great communication kept the LC Panthers out front. Multiple Panthers were able to find Parker Gonzalez under the basket, where the BSC could not stop him. Before the packed Mariotti crowd could notice, LC was up 30-18 with 10 minutes remaining in the first half.
-With only six minutes left in the half, BSC was forced to leave the press defense after the Panthers went up 38-23.
-Shaun Nichols came off of the bench and outworked the BSC defense by crashing the boards and scoring off of the missed LC shots and hitting open layups off of inbound passes. These hustle plays pushed the lead to 44-26 with less than five minutes.
-The play of the half came just after the four minute media timeout. From the top of the arc, Cam Lyons made it seem like his defender's feet were in the mud when he spun off of him and finished the layup to bring the LC lead to 48-29.
-BSC took advantage of some missed LC shots and was able to finish the first half down 48-36.
-Parker Gonzalez finished the half with 12 points and four rebounds while shooting 75% from the field.
Second half play by play details
-The Panthers left the last few minute drought in the first half and got off to a fast start in the second. Samuel Moss stole the ball from the BSC guard in the first 15 seconds of the second half to set up the LC possession.
-The 12-8 LC run in the first five minutes forced BSC to call a timeout to try to stop the bleeding while down 60-44.
-Out of the timeout, LC began to take a page out of the BSC playbook and press their inbound passes.
-The aggressive LC defense caused BSC to make offensive mistakes. Despite the mistakes, BSC took advantage of the LC fouls and was able to cut the Panther lead to 66-53 with ten minutes left.
-In the first ten minutes of the half, both teams played with a high level of intensity and the crowd was fully invested.
-The play of the second half came with eight minutes remaining. As Kyle Smith was backing his defender down in the paint, he found Kameron McCall wide open with a great pass, for McCall to swish a three. This brought the LC lead to 72-56.
-In just the next two minutes, the Panthers allowed BSC to cut the lead down to 77-64 after LC missed shots and BSC hit multiple threes.
-The Panthers led 81-70 with only five minutes remaining.
-With two minutes left, LC led 85-76. BSC was able to continue to take advantage of the Panther fouls to bring it within 10.
-The Panthers kept fighting and were able to pull out the 98-85 victory by playing tight defense and hitting their free throws in the final two minutes.
-On the final play, Samuel Moss stole the ball and drove down the court to hit a thunderous slam dunk to cap off the Panther win.
Big time performances
Parker Gonzalez was unstoppable under the rim all night. Gonzo finished the game with 18 points while shooting 81% from field goal. The big man also accounted for five rebounds.
Cam Lyons displayed his athleticism throughout tonight's matchup. Whether he was moving the ball around to set plays up, leaving defenders in the dust, making shots or stealing the rock from BSC, the guard looked great. His stats for the game were a team-high 21 points, two assists, two steals and three rebounds. He shot 54% from field goal, 33% from three and 80% from the free throw line.
Kameron McCall came alive in the second half. He hit two back-to-back big time threes and looked deadly from beyond the arc. He ended up scoring 13 points on 63% from field goal and 66% on threes.
Overall, the Panther squad played great together tonight. The bench scored 31 points and LC scored 28 off of 24 BSC turnovers. Despite allowing a few BSC offensive runs, the Panthers never wavered and always found a way to respond.
Next up
Panthers head to Montgomery, Ala. to play in the Huntingdon College Classic (Nov. 11-12).
