“The thing that makes Landry special is, first, he loves
basketball and then he wants to win really bad,” Park Hill coach David Garrison
said. “For him to step up in this game, It’s sign of good things to come from
him.”
In front of a full crowd at Park Hill, the home team would
maintain their lead, going into halftime with a 30-27 advantage. That’s when
the Panthers would come alive though as Hudson Welty hit a three-pointer early
in the third quarter to give Park Hill South their first lead. It would be a
sign of things to come as Welty would end up scoring a game high 23 points and
lead the Panthers to a 45-35 lead going into the fourth quarter.
“We had to get him the ball, he hit some threes. If we
wanted an advantage in the paint, we had to do that. It was a great atmosphere,”
Park Hill South coach Rick Zych said. “We were outplayed in the first half, but
we really came out with some intensity in the second half. We really played
well in the third quarter.”
Park Hill felt they made some bad decisions and lost their
focus in the third quarter.
“We got out of sync in the third quarter, didn’t get off
very good shots,” Garrison said. “If you give some teams easy buckets, it makes
it difficult.”
Park Hill South would weather a Trojan comeback attempt, but
it would fall short as the Panthers took the two teams’ second matchup 57-54.
While they won’t be seeing each other the rest of the regular season, the two
could potential meet in the district tournament in two weeks. Garrison said if
that were to be the case, they would look to last year for inspiration when the
Trojans ended Park Hill South’s season after previously losing to them twice in
the regular season.
“Last year we played twice and lost twice by similar
advantages, but were able to get a win in the district tournament,” Garrison
said. “We’ve got kids who have seen that happen.”
Park Hill South (15-6) beat Truman on the road in conference
play earlier in the week 63-53 and is looking towards the possibility of a top
seed in the district tournament. While in good position, they believe there are
still improvements to be made.
“Hopefully, we’ll be the number one seed,” Zych said. “We
have to work on rebounding and taking care of the ball. We’ve got a long way to
go, but we’re making some strides.”
On the other side, Park Hill (3-17) hopes to keep their
focus and remind themselves of the possibilities district play can bring. In
order for that to happen, it will take some more stability and consistency.
“We have stretchs were our decision making isn’t very good
and have moments where we just breakdown and someone forgets their
responsibility,” Garrison said. “We have two options for this season. When it
doesn’t work out, we can make the choice to either pack it in or choose to
build on it and carry it into districts.”
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