The Perryville boys basketball team defeated host Rising Sun 72-66 Tuesday night. Tony Smith poured in 21 points to pace the shorthanded Panthers. Tyrell Hollingsworth collected 18 points and 13 rebounds and Elijah Johnson added 13 points. Pernell White provided eight points. "First of all we didn't have three of our players," Perryville coach Charles Givens said. "And we had three JV kids here as well. I'm just glad we had a team. But when you've got a core group of Tyrell, Elijah, and Tony, you've got some kids who can help pave the way. All the other kids have got to do i stand in line and follow suit."
Perryville led by as many as 10 points in the first quarter but the Tigers managed to stay within striking distance. Trailing 33-24, Rising Sun recorded the final two baskets of the first half, prompting coach Matt Haack to tell his team, "Let's go! We've got the momentum now!" That momentum did carry over into the third quarter. Rising Sun registered the first seven points of the second half to take their first –and only – lead. After a basket by Spencer McDermott, Jessie Shields buried a three-pointer from the right wing and Naim Collins hit a floater to put the hosts in front 35-33. The lead did not last long. Hollingsworth countered quickly wih consecutive baskets. Brandon Aro hit two free throws to forge another deadlock, but a Hollingsworth dunk ignited an eight-point Panthers spurt. Perryville took a six-point cushion into the fourth quarter and rapidly raised the margin to 11 when Johnson hit a three-pointer and then made a steal and layup. Following a Tiger timeout, White scored to make it 54-41. Rising Sun made one final run, tallying nine straight points to narrow the gap to 54-50 with 5:31 remaining. But the Panthers' Smith nailed a jumper and the Tigers never got closer than four the rest of the way. "We did see some improvement," Haack said. "And I told the boys in the locker room, the difference in that game was we threw at least three bad passes right to Tyrell that he took the other way for an easy layup or dunk. Those three mistakes cost us the game. But the good news is, three mistakes like that are easily correctable. That's something we can fix very easily and we know we could've had a chance to win this game is we correct those easy mistakes. And that's something we can build on." The Tigers ran an offense with Aro stationed in the high post at the free throw line. The senior forward finished with 28 points (12-14 from the free throw line), 20 rebounds, and seven blocks. "We knew with their zone they'd be pushing their guards up and trying to stick some pressure," said Haack. "We really wanted to bring Brandon high to try to have that as the focal point for the offense. Whether it was a baseline pass or a jumpshot or a dribble drive, we wanted to channel most of that offense through the high post." McDermott added 11 points. Collins had nine points and five assists. Shields supplied eight points. Comments are closed.
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