PANTHER POUNDING!
So just what did we learn from last Thursday Night’s 85-67 Elizabethtown win over John Hardin?
When you have a first place showdown between the top two teams in the 17th district, there are surely going to be fireworks. In a game which was suppose to be played Tuesday Night and then Mother Nature chose to intervene moving it two days later, one would think that two teams with contrastingly different personalities might be full of highlight dunks and long range jumpers with both teams possibly tied after regulation and requiring two or three overtimes to decide might be an understatement.
Add to the fact that John Hardin hadn’t lost to Elizabethtown the last four times they had met (two straight seasons) and you have a quite a matchup between the nice guys up the street and the brash showtime performers about fifteen minutes travel time further down the road going towards Fort Knox.
That being said you might argue that Elizabethtown won this game in the second quarter when they took a close game and broke it into an eighteen point lead at halftime. While John Hardin was coming up short on jumpers inside the point during their transition possessions, Elizabethtown was taking advantage of their cold shooting and turning it into quick baskets on the other end to take a 20-17 first quarter lead and make it into a 43-25 halftime bulge.
One key for the Panthers was holding (or trying to) All Area performer Mickey Pearson to just two first half points and trying to frustrate him on the offensive end. Senior guard Tyler Durbin was matched up with him for much of the game and seemed to be doing a pretty good job not allowing the senior All World Forward to roam, disrupt on the defensive end and go into his Highlight Slam Dunk mode. Meanwhile another senior named Darius Harding was making his case for a possible Mr. Basketball vote with another great performance putting up 24 points with a variety of jumpers, three pointers (he had three) and a pretty dunk on a lob pass in the second half.
Tired of being disrespected in an opposing gym, the Bulldogs finally started to wake up and went on a run in the third quarter behind Pearson (20-points) and senior guard Malik Wright (20points), who helped jump start the run that inched them back with 4:26 left in the third quarter at 51-42 with plenty of time for a comeback. That’s when the Panthers went on a run and responded climaxing the quarter with a three pointer from Jaquais Franklin to push the lead back up to 64-50.
John Hardin still had one last push with about four minutes remaining when Pearson drove the lane on a drive and made contact with senior guard Kass Disney. Pearson’s basket rolled in and a blocking foul would have put Pearson on the line for a three point play and possibly cutting the lead to under single digits again, but after an officials conference, Pearson was called on an offensive charge and Elizabethtown went back up eventually putting the game away on another run.
It was a great win for Elizabethtown, who may have felt a little disrespected themselves before the game, who despite playing one of the toughest schedules (like John Hardin) may have lost some steam after losing a close game to Central Hardin in their second meeting just a week earlier. After the game, Harding, who was the game’s top scorer and had a good game all around seemed to take the win with a certain calm which has been his trademark. “We just wanted to come out and play hard. And prepare for their transition defense. It is a big win especially with the District tournament coming up.” Harding also knows that they will face this same team a second time not even two weeks from now at John Hardin and that should be a game which everyone will pencil in as “Must See” also as the two best teams in the District will be going at it again
