PC roundup: Panthers win Red Pool at Colmone Classic

BOYS BASKETBALL

Putnam County 69, Hall 34: The Panthers used their 1-2 punch of Jackson McDonald (25) and Austin Mattingly (21), who combined for 46 points, to defeat host Hall in their Colmone Classic opener on Tuesday, Dec. 6.

PC coach Harold Fay said it was nice to win their tournament opener.

“We shot the ball well, and some things went right for us,” he said.

Mac Resetich led Hall (2-5) with 22 points despite drawing the attention of the PC defense.

“We wanted to try keep Resetich in check as much as we could. He’s a good player. That’s hard to do,” Fay said. “The shots he made, I thought were tough shots.”

Hall coach Mike Filippini said the Red Devils will just have to regroup.

“Putnam County killed us. We could do nothing right,” he said. “They beat us in every phase of the game tonight. That was an old-fashioned butt kicking. There’s nothing more you can say. Now we’re in the losers’ bracket, but we still have a chance to win two games. There’s not a lot of positives to take out tonight, but that’s one of them.”

PC 63, Stillman Valley 48: McDonald scored 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds Wednesday, Dec. 7 to lead the Panthers to a 63-48 win over Stillman Valley in the Colmone Classic

With the win, the Panthers claimed the Red Pool with a 2-0 record.

Wyatt Grimshaw and Mattingly scored 16 points each for Putnam County.

Pontiac 78, Putnam County 58: The Indians defeated the Panthers in the semifinals of the Colmone Classic on Friday, Dec. 9.

The Panthers got off to a strong start, with McDonald and Grimshaw each scoring down low and hitting a pair of free throws to help PC take a an 8-2 lead.

PC later scored on four straight possessions to go up 17-9, but the Indians closed the first quarter on a 10-0 run to take a 19-17 lead.

“We started out real well,” Fay said. “We had good movement on offense. I’m not blaming officiating, but there were some calls early on, and we weren’t able to finish. Then we just kind of stopped.

“Our movement stopped. Weak-side guards weren’t exchanging, and we just got into kick it down to the post, throw it out, shoot, and they shot us out of it.”

PC held its last lead at 23-21 with 4:55 left in the second quarter. Pontiac took a 33-28 lead into halftime.

The Indians put together a 12-2 run early in the third to build a 47-34 lead and extended their advantage to 60-43 by the end of the quarter.

“We stood and watched,” Fay said. “We got impatient on offense. They came out and scored right away to get it to seven. We got it down to three, then we just couldn’t get stops. We let them penetrate and kick, and we’d leave somebody open. We knew it was coming. It was exactly what we expected, but they were able to do a better job at it than us.”

McDonald scored 20 points for PC, Mattingly added 16.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Serena 38, Putnam County 30: Ava Hatton and Gracie Ciucci scored 11 points each Saturday, Dec. 10, but the Panthers lost a nonconference game in Granville.

Putnam County 37, Midland 23: Hatton scored 21 points to lead the Panthers to a Tri-County Conference victory in Granville on Monday, Dec. 5.