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 Noah Funk and Will Ewald each scored 12 points for Chester-East
while Thomas Morris added 8 points for the Panthers.
The Bruins were led by Dustin Murphy with 7 points, while Brian
Batchelder and Brian Kretzinger each added 6 points. Grant Davis and
Drew Martin each chipped in 5 points for Mount Pulaski, while Todd
Kelly's 2 points finished out the scoring for a Mount Pulaski team
that started out strong in the first quarter.
Mount Pulaski jumped out to an early 7-4 lead before Ewald's layup
would tie the game at 8-8. Dewberry nailed a three in the next
possession to give the Panthers their first lead at 11-8. Funk
quickly followed that up with a three of his own and the Panthers
were on a roll leading 14-8.
Murphy then hit a two for Mount Pulaski near the top of the key and
Mount Pulaski was edging their way back. Martin knocked down a three
for the Bruins next that fired up the Mount Pulaski fans and as Funk
missed a shot at the buzzer, the score was 14-13 in favor of the
Panthers at the end of the first quarter.
Mount Pulaski struck first in second quarter action as Kretzinger
hit a three with 5:25 on the clock to give the Bruins a 16-14 lead.
A three-pointer by Davis would put Mount Pulaski on top 18-15, but
from this point on the Panthers took control of the game and never
let up.
A layup by Funk with 3:10 on the scoreboard gave Chester-East a
19-18 lead. Dewberry's three made the score 22-19 and the eighth
grader continued to impress with his quickness. His layup near the
end of the second quarter gave Chester-East the 24-20 half-time
lead.
The Panthers emerged from the locker room ready to take the court in
front of a large crowd that had traveled from Lincoln and the young
men did not disappoint their fans. Dewberry laid the first basket of
the quarter in rather nicely and extended the lead to 26-20. Funk's
drive through the lane allowed the Panthers to go up 28-20 and it
looked like the black and gold team was on cruise control. But some
quick ball movement by the Bruins at the other end of the court
found Batchelder waiting patiently by the basket and he laid in a
bucket of his own for two points. Davis then connected for a trey
and the Mount Pulaski team looked like they were right back in it,
trailing just 28-25. But Chester-East kicked things into overdrive
at this point and went on an 18-2 scoring run that carried over into
the fourth quarter.
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Ewald would get the hot hand here, scoring eight points and leading
the Panther attack at this point, 46-27 now the score. Murphy's
drive through the lane with 2:15 remaining gave the Bruin fans
something to cheer about as the tall eighth grader has all the right
moves to be a very good man in the middle. Murphy would finish the
Bruins scoring with an easy two in the lane before Chester-East's
big man Morris laid in the final two points of the game.
A 48-31 victory for the Panthers was in the books and the
Chester-East Lincoln team now improves to an impressive 5-0 on the
season. Mount Pulaski falls to 3-1 with the loss.
The Panthers are coached by Josh Komnick and Jason Toft while Mount
Pulaski is coached by Brian Erlenbush and Doug Martin.
In 7th grade action Mount Pulaski defeated Chester-East 39-15.
Mount Pulaski's 7th grade team is now 4-0 while the Panther's 7th
graders drop to 1-4.
For the winning Mount Pulaski team Drew Martin led the way with 14
points and Grant Davis hit double figures as well with 10 points.
Lucas Kuhlman tossed in 9 points and Lane Davis contributed 6
points.
For Chester-East Seth Tungate led the way with 7 points while Tanner
Strampp was close behind with 4 points. Both Sean Raffa and Jalen
Klopp had 2 points apiece.
A huge crowd packed Bob Gasaway Gymnasium and with the split by the
two teams at least everyone went home fairly happy.
[Teena Lowery]
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