(December 6th, 2014) – DELTA: The Pettisville boys fell to 0-2 on Saturday, losing to the Panthers of Delta in a tough road game.
On offense, the Blackbirds couldn’t keep pace with the Panthers in the first half. After being outscored 24-13 in the first quarter, the Pettisville defense was able to hold Delta to 17 points in the second. Adding another 13 points to their total during that time, the visitors from Pettisville went into the locker room down 41-26 at the half.
The third period saw the Blackbird boys finally outscore Delta 20-17, allowing them to chip away at the Panther lead slightly. Delta just had too much firepower, however, scoring 18 in the final quarter of play while Pettisville could only produce 17. This left the score at 76-63 Delta.
Blackbird senior Tate Kauffman lead all scorers with 23 points. Shooting 63% from the floor, Kauffman made 2 of his 4 three-point attempts, while going 5 for 7 from within the arc. He also pulled down 6 rebounds, made 2 assists, stole the ball twice, and blocked a shot in a well rounded performance.
Not a big scorer, Caleb Rychener also had a big impact on the game. With 13 rebounds, 4 points, and 2 blocks, Rychener made things difficult in the paint for the Panthers all game long.
Rebounding was actually an area where Pettisville dominated Delta. Their 38 rebounds simply dwarfed the Panthers 27 boards. In particular, the Blackbirds were able to pull down 5 more offensive rebounds than the hometown Panthers, which afforded them extra opportunities to score.
Pettisville did a decent job from the free throw line as well. With a 70% success rate, they made 15 of their 23 shots from the line. Earning that many attempts shows that they were playing aggressively, something that appeared to be lacking from their game in the loss to Antwerp during their season opener.
Where the Blackbirds fell short was turnovers. Pettisville turned the ball over 22 times to the Delta defense. Not only does failing to take care of the basketball cost a team chances to score, it gives those chances directly to the other team.
Yet, in the long term, Pettisville may be on their way to finding a winning formula. Kauffman has established himself as the team’s primary scorer, but, going into the Delta game, there was a question of how much his teammates would be able to contribute offensively. Several players took on the scoring mantle during the contest. Josh Liechty had 9 points. Eli King put up 8 points, and Evan King 6. Gabe Beck totaled 7. If these players can perform this way consistently, Pettisville is going to be hard to stop on offense.