Pinnacle boys basketball return from winter break with a win

After two weeks, off due to the holiday break, the Pinnacle Academy Panthers defeated American Preparatory 52-40 on Wednesday night at home.
The Panthers couldn’t practice for two weeks and were only had one full practice on Tuesday to prepare for APA.
Panthers’ Head Coach Eric Hansen said he was happy with the win but the long layoff did effect his team’s performance.
“We could have done things better; however, it was their first game back from the break so everyone is flat-footed including the coaches. Everybody is tired because I mean hey you ate a lot of turkey and ham over the break and did not do much basketball over the break,” said Hansen.
After a slow start in the beginning of the game, the Panthers put together a 12-4 run at the end of the first quarter to take a 16-8 lead at the end of the period.
The Panthers got help off the bench from senior Logan Ellington during that impressive early run.
“He came off the bench for us and did great. He is a very good player off the bench but he is also a very good starter too,” said Hansen.
Ellington scored five points in the first quarter but also provided rebounding and defensive stops that were key to the Panther’s success in the first half.
At halftime, the Panthers had a 16-point lead over APA with senior forward Dalton Cook leading the way with 8 points.
The Panthers held off APA throughout much of the second half because of their effort on defense.
“We played pretty good defense, we came out kind of slow in the beginning of the third quarter but after that we picked up the intensity,” said senior guard Kaden Daughters.
Another part of Wednesday’s win for the Panthers was the play at both ends of the floor by Daughters who finished the game as Pinnacle’s leading scorer with 14 points.
“He played well, he was a little off just like everyone else but he came through with a big night and scored a lot of points. He played very good defense on their big man and he did what he did best and drove the ball to the hole,” said Hansen.
The Panthers led by as much as 21 points in the fourth quarter and Coach Hansen pulled his starting rotation of players with 2:30 left to play to allow younger players to get minutes.
That move by Hansen allowed APA to cut the lead with a 7-0 run and forced the Panthers to take a timeout and put their starters back in.
With the starters in the Panthers closed out the game strong and picked up their fourth win of the year.
This Friday Pinnacle will take on Region 18 rival Green River in their annual “Blackout” game at home.
Both Daughters and Hansen hope the Panthers can get back into their routine and have good practices before taking on Green River.
Daughters said after the game Wednesday that the Panthers will have to be ready defensively to get the win on Friday.
“We got to come out play good defense and hold to them to under 25 points,” said Daughters.
Hansen and the Panthers are also looking to get their first region win of the season against Green River. So far, this season they are 0-1 in Region 18 play with that lone loss coming against Wayne last month.
Tip-off for Friday’s game against Green River is schedule for 5:30 p.m. inside Pinnacle Gymnasium.