By Matt M. Stutz
With a share of the Blanchard Valley Conference title on the line, the Pandora-Gilboa boys basketball team faced off against Liberty-Benton Friday night Feb. 3. A third quarter scoring drought stalled the Rockets and P-G dropped the highly anticipated match-up, 48-43.
The two teams played a pretty even first half, with the Eagles ahead 9-7 after one quarter. P-G came right back over the second eight minutes, to tie things up at 18. The physical game made it hard to generate any flow; fouls were called aplenty stopping the clock with, what seemed like, every possession.
P-G had the ball to start the second half, but immediately turned it over, which proved to be a sign of things to come for the Rockets. The Eagles put together a run, outscoring P-G 14-5. The Eagles led 32-23 heading into the fourth.
P-G would fall behind by as many as twelve in the final period, before climbing back to within five points. Following a steal, P-G raced the other way on a fast break, but missed the contested layup, squelching the momentum. The miss seemed to take some wind out of the Rockets, as the Eagles responded, going back up ten points. P-G would again chip away in the closing minute, getting to within five points, but that was as close as they would come.
Aidan Harris put the Rockets on his back offensively, as he poured in a game high 23 points. Aidan Morris tallied 6 points while Colin Harris and Owen Huffman each added 5 points each. Derek Maag and Zach Neuenschwander each added one shot from the floor for their 2 points a-piece.
With three games remaining in the regular season, the Rockets (14-4, 6-2 BVC, 3-2 PCL) will find out their tournament seeding and sectional location on Sunday Feb. 5. They will then host McComb Friday Feb. 10 in their final BVC contest.
