Pinnacle boys basketball falls to rival Green River

    The Pinnacle Boys basketball team lost to rival Green River 65-60 at home on Friday night.
    Both teams played a very physical game in front a good-sized crowd inside Pinnacle Gymnasium.
    Green River got off to a hot start in the first half thanks to three pointers made by Trey Vetere and Axel Anguiano.
    After trailing 18-10 at the end of the first quarter, two threes by Pinnacle’s Kaden Daughters helped keep the Panthers in the game in second quarter.
    Even though they trailed at halftime by seven points, the Panthers got on a role in the third quarter and dominated the Pirates.
    Daughters exploded for 9 points and senior guard Liam Bloomer added six points to help the Panthers outscore the Pirates 21-13 in the third quarter.
    “We can always count on him to get buckets we need to. Kaden is a very versatile player, he can shoot and drive,” said Panthers’ Head Coach Eric Hansen.
    Going into the fourth quarter the Pirates had a 43-42 lead and the Panthers had momentum building towards the end of the third quarter.
    The Panthers collapsed however in the fourth quarter and played sloppy defense according to Hansen.
    “A couple of minutes of the fourth quarter we gave up on defense a little bit, we didn’t make the defensive plays we normally do,” said Hansen.
    While the defense was folding, Green River’s Anguiano was unstoppable in the final period scoring 13 of his team-high 25 points.
    “We started to play a little bit sloppy and had somethings in our head, they saw our weaknesses and they went from there,” said senior point guard Isaiah Wilstead.
    Pinnacle started to foul the Pirates to preserve time so they can attempt to get back into the game but unfortunately Green River kept their lead alive by making six of their seven free throws in the fourth quarter.
    Daughters led the Panthers with 18 points, his sixth straight game scoring 13 or more points.
    Bloomer finished the night with 9 points while Wilstead stepped up with 11 points for Pinnacle.
    Although his team had great offensive performances, Hansen said that his defense was off and that is what ultimately gave Green River the game.
“Offensively we played great tonight, 60 points is about average for us. We had a great offensive game, we had scores and everyone was scoring with great passes however are defense really, really struggled today,”
    With the loss Friday night, the Panthers overall record is now at 5-7 with a Region 18 record of 0-2.
    The Panthers will return home to play Monument Valley on January 20 in another Region 18 game.