Watervliet Press Box

Panther Boys Basketball beats Huskies

The winter sports season began on Tuesday, Nov. 28 when the Panther varsity boys basketball team hosted the Hartford Huskies in the Panther gym. The Panthers won the non-conference opener 61-40 in front of a good crowd filled with parents, students, and good community support from both schools.

Neither coach would call this a pretty game, especially in the first half as both teams sorted out new personnel and got the kinks worked out. The Panthers have had a significant personnel change with graduations and an injury keeping Kaiden Bierhalter on the sidelines for several more weeks as he recovers from a broken leg suffered in the football game against Coloma.

Meanwhile, the Panthers began the game with just two players in the starting lineup having any varsity experience. Hartford opened the scoring early and the Panthers responded quickly. Then the shooting got cold for a bit as the teams were tied at 6-6 with just over three minutes remaining in the opening quarter. The Panthers found a little rhythm and scored six straight to take a 12-6 lead after one quarter.

The Huskies battled back to tie the game at 12 before taking a brief lead at 13-12, which would turn into their only lead of the game. Just before halftime the Huskies tied the game at 18 and the Panthers responded by taking a 23-18 lead with a few seconds remaining. Hartford’s Brody Johnson then took an inbounds pass with 0.4 seconds on the clock and hit the long three at the buzzer.

After halftime the Panther offense started clicking and their defense, led by Wyatt Epple and Owen Epple, made life tough for the Husky offense the rest of the game. The Panthers quickly took a ten-point lead and never looked back, taking advantage of their depth as nine different players hit baskets in the game.

Leading the way on offense was senior Jacob Schaefer who shook off the early-game rust and finished the game with 17 points, a new career high so far. Schaefer was a gear in a scoring machine last season and looks to be the primary big man this season. Sophomore Jacob Pleyer missed most of last season with an injury but returns this year as the point guard, scoring 11 points including a pair of threes.

Newcomer Ado Geegan started his first varsity game and scored 10 points with solid outside shooting. Wyatt Epple entered the game to start the second quarter and made up for his early absence by scoring eight points while playing shutdown defense and getting all of his allocated fouls by the middle of the last quarter, the final one a tough blocking call that could have been a charge. Even the refs are rusty and working out the kinks.

Another newcomer, JT Davis, put up seven points while playing most of the game. Others scoring on the night were Emmett Williams, Owen Epple, Colton Swisher, and Tyler Asakevich, who each scored two points.

The Panthers won the rebound battle 41-32 and also blocked four shots in the game. Coach Dan Hoff brought a new kind of basketball to Watervliet four years ago, one where passing and finding the open man is encouraged and they did a good job doing that while recording 18 assists.

The boys played again on Tuesday, Dec. 5 at Martin, then play at Fennville on Friday, Dec. 8. Their next home game is on Friday, Dec. 15 when they open the conference schedule with South Haven.

The girls varsity basketball team opened their season on Tuesday, Dec. 5 at home against Gobles, travel with the boys to Fennville this Friday, and plays South Haven on Dec. 15.

The other action this winter is the wrestling team, who opens their season this week with a multi-team meet at Allegan on Wednesday, Dec. 6, then travels to Zeeland on Saturday, Dec. 9 for their first tournament of the season. Fans first chance to see them nearby will be a tournament Saturday, Dec. 16 at Eau Claire.