(January 8th, 2015) – STRYKER: After getting off to a rough start, the Panthers’ season may have just gotten the boost it needed.
Stryker took down a talented Pettisville team by the score of 52-43.
The Panther boys took hold of the lead early on, refusing to relinquish it throughout the contest. In the first quarter, Stryker established a 17-11 advantage. The second period saw them add 2 more points of separation between themselves and the Blackbirds, thanks to a 15-13 scoring affair with their visitors from Pettisville. Going into halftime, Stryker maintained a 32-24 lead.
Pettisville was able to make up a very little bit of ground in the third period. Outscoring the Panthers 8-7. they lowered their deficit to 7 points with only the fourth quarter to play. Not to be outdone, Stryker returned the favor in that final period, putting up 13 points to Pettisville’s 11. This sealed the victory for the hometown Panthers.
Parker Ruffer showed off the range of his game against the Blackbirds. The senior hit on 2 of his 4 three-point attempts, while he made 6 field goals from within the arc. He totaled 21 points against the Blackbird defense. Teammate Tanner Clingaman contributed 13 points in the contest, also connecting on 2 of his 4 three-point shots.
For the Pettisville boys, Gabe Beck led the scoring effort with 15 points. Eli King wasn’t too far behind with 10 points. Senior Tate Kauffman added 9 more points for the Blackbirds.
In terms of rebounding, the Blackbirds had a slight advantage. They outrebounded their hosts 28-23. The differential was mostly due to Pettisville’s offensive rebounding, as they pulled down 10 boards off of missed shots compared to Stryker’s 3 offensive rebounds. However, Pettisville took 20 more shots, at 52 attempts, than Stryker, who took just 32 attempts. When considering the Panthers shot 46% from the floor to Pettisville’s 26%, and that offensive rebounding margin doesn’t seem so large.
Both teams shot pretty well from the free throw line. Connecting on 14 of their 18 attempts from the charity stripe, the Blackbirds averaged 77% on their extra points. Despite those solid numbers, Stryker still nearly made more free throws than Pettisville attempted. The Panthers went 18 for 25 from the line, good for a 72% average.
Stryker and Pettisville are two of the Buckeye Border Conference’s top teams. To see the Panthers win by nearly double digits shows just how overlooked they’ve been because of their early season troubles.