Sure, a win’s a win. But Petal head coach Todd Kimble was not feeling too victorious following the Panthers’ 55-54 win over rival Oak Grove Friday night.
“They [Oak Grove] wanted to win that game more than we did,” Kimble said. “ And they deserved to.”
Why? Kimble’s Panthers struggled on the offensive and defensive end, especially in the first half. Also, a postgame scuffle broke out between the two teams and soured the victory even more. And it goes farther than that, said Kimble.
“I think Oak Grove out-hustled us, out-executed us and out-rebounded us.”
“You get rivals together and maybe you lose a little focus because of that. Maybe that was it, but they ‘out-everythinged’ us tonight.”
The second half was better. Trailing 29-22 at halftime, Petal responded with a solid third quarter, outscoring Oak Grove 17-11 to pull within one point, 40-39, heading to the fourth.
“I think we came out and did what we’ve been doing,” Kimble said. “Why we didn’t in the first half, I have no idea. Our game plan was to make sure we executed and established a post game.”
Super sophomore Treylan Smith led that department for Petal, finishing with a game-high 29 points and 14 rebounds.
“I would say probably that he’s probably the most consistent player we’ve got,” Kimble said of Smith. “And he’s a 10th grader. I’m tough on him, even though he’s a 10th grader. I have to remind myself that sometimes.”
“He makes a lot of mistakes, but I tell ya, he’s doing a lot of the little stuff. He had 14 rebounds tonight. That’s as important as the 29 points.”
Also important? Finishing strong in Friday’s fourth quarter. The Panthers opened the period on a 12-3 scoring run in taking a 51-43 lead with 4:02 remaining. But Oak Grove was not done. The Warriors fought back and eventually took the lead, 54-53, with 22 seconds left on a made two-pointer from Brandon Tilley. Petal answered right back, as Smith was sent to the free throw line in the final seconds.
Smith connected on both which gave Petal the lead, 55-54. Now it was up to the Panther defense with 7 seconds left on the clock. It was not exactly a situation Kimble felt comfortable in.
“We try to hang our hat on the defensive end, and they were destroying us.”
Not this time though. Petal’s Caleb McGill, another sophomore, came up with the game-saving block to seal the Panther win.
“We knew they were fixing to take the ball and try to get to the basket with it. If we helped, they were going to kick it and try to shoot a three,” Kimble explained. “We got a hand on it, and they got an offensive rebound off that. Then we got a hand on it again. Like I said, lucky.”
Kimble’s Panthers improved to 10-2 with the win, while Oak Grove fell to 10-8. Both teams will faceoff again next Friday night at Oak Grove.
