By Matt M. Stutz

The Launch Pad was rocking Friday night, as the Pandora-Gilboa boy’s basketball team climbed back to the top of Blanchard Valley Conference title chase. The Rockets used a huge, twenty-seven point 4th quarter to knock off the Liberty-Benton Eagles, 68-56. 

The Eagles came into the match-up as the lone remaining undefeated team in conference play. There is now a three-way knot between Arlington, Liberty-Benton and P-G each with one loss. P-G is currently atop the BVC standings nursing a half game lead over the other two teams with two weeks remaining in conference play.

The Rockets held a three-point lead after one quarter of play, propelling them to a comfortable 30-21 halftime advantage. The Eagles would not quit and they fought back, getting within a single point. The Rockets lead shrunk to 41-40 heading into the final eight minutes of action.  

The Rockets quickly took all the momentum in the early stages of the fourth quarter, turning that one-point lead into a fifteen-point advantage, up 57-42 with three-and-a-half minutes remaining. However, the Eagles trimmed the deficit to single digits on a couple occasions. The Rockets remained calm and consistently knocked down free throws, hitting 19 in the 4th quarter alone, and 30 for the game.

Four Rocket men reached double digit scoring led by Aidan Harris’s 15 points, as he connected on ten shots from the charity stripe. 

Brother Colin Harris was not too far behind with 12 points as he canned two big 3-pointers. 

Aiden Morris battled foul trouble early but came alive in the second half to tally all 11 points, nine of those from the free throw line and seven in the fourth quarter alone. 

Owen Huffman finished the night with 10 points, hitting six fourth quarter foul shots to ice the game away. 

Nate Maag paced himself throughout the night finishing with 8 points. Nate Walker was a first half spark plug off the bench as he spelled Morris and proceeded to score all 7 of his points in the first two quarters. Finally Zack Neuenschwander knocked down a second quarter trifecta on his way to 5 points.     

Liberty-Benton won the JV game in overtime.

SCOREBOARD

P-G (14-2, 6-1 BVC, 5-0 PCL) will look to keep the momentum rolling when they travel to Bluffton (14-2) in the annual non-conference battle between the close-knit villages.