After back-and-forth affair the first half, the Pleasant Home Eagles were topped by the Excel Panthers 60-44.

 

The first period was filled with good shooting from both squads. Troy Fantroy nailed a long 3-pointer, and accounted for 8 points in the first. The Panthers held Fantroy in check the remainder of the game, and rarely allowed him to take a shot that wasn’t heavily contested. After one period, the score was knotted at 16-16.

 

In the second, both teams continued to fight it out. At halftime, the score was still tied up 26-26. Kirkland Gunter dropped in a pair of treys, to keep the Eagles in the game.

 

After halftime, the Panthers switched up defenses and the Eagles struggled to adjust. At the end of the third, the Eagles had fallen behind 45-35. Walt Weaver had a big 3-pointer, but it was about all the offense that the Eagles could muster.

 

In the fourth, the Panthers offense really clicked. The Panthers tacked on 15 points in the final period, to defeat the Eagles 60-44.

 

Gunter led the Eagles with 13 points, and Fantroy finished with 8 points.

 

“That was a frustrating game,” Eagles head coach Troy Turman said. “ We played well enough to win, in the first half, but in the second they came out in a defense we hadn’t seen before. It took us to long to adjust to it, and we didn’t finish the way we want to. We are striving for an area championship, and we are using these games to improve and learn.”