Panthers Slip Away from RWA

Bryant Carvalho completes the fast break for RWA. (Photo/Martha Ladd)

Bryant Carvalho completes the fast break for RWA. (Photo/Martha Ladd)

WINNSBORO (Jan. 4, 2017) – The Richard Winn guys played in a hotly contested matchup against the Providence Athletic Club Panthers that went back and forth in the final minutes Tuesday night, but eventually the Panthers walked away with a 66-60 win.

“That was tough, that was tough,” Eagles’ head coach Joe Pitt said. “I thought the kids gave a good effort. They didn’t always do the smart thing but they gave a good effort. We were down five at the half, we came back and took the lead with about two minutes to play, and it hurt when Mitchell (Gibbons) fouled out, but that was a tough pill to swallow.”

Chris Christianson nailed the first free throw of the game for the Eagles’ first point of 2017, and their first lead as well, but the teams traded buckets back and forth through a first quarter that included four ties and three lead changes.

Richard Winn ended the first quarter on top with a narrow 19-16 lead, thanks in part to Bryant Carvalho and Gibbons who combined for 14 points in the first. Carvalho ended the night with 13 points, and Gibbons, although he fouled out late, led all scorers with 25.

Providence pried the lead away from the Eagles late in the second quarter after fighting their way out of a seven-point hole. The Panthers ended the second quarter on 16-4 run, and went into the half up 34-29.

The Eagles opened the second half with a 6-2 run to get back within a point, but then Providence jumped back ahead by five points, only to have Richard Winn tie the game back up a couple of minutes later. Providence did not let the tie last long and quickly jumped back out to a five-point lead as the third quarter wrapped up.

The fourth was a battle of wills with Providence leading by as much as nine before Richard Winn charged back to take the lead deep into the quarter on a Gibbons 3-point play, but Providence’s Danny Waller tied things back up at 58-58.

As time ran down under a minute, Richard Winn went back up by two before the big Panther center Caleb Ashworth sank a bucket to lock things back up at 60. Waller came up big again with the go-ahead Providence bucket, and that would be all they would need to put the game away.

“We had a lot of layups at the bucket there in the fourth quarter,” Pitt said. “We missed about four or five straight possessions and we missed some key free throws that could have turned the tide.”

Providence Athletic Club 66, Richard Winn 60

RWA: 19-10-14-17 – 60

PCA: 16-18-14-18 – 66

Richard Winn

Mitchell Gibbons 25, Bryant Carvalho 13, Darius Boyd 8, Noah Edwards 6, Chris Christianson 3, Lane Bickett 3, Todd Johnson 2.

Providence Athletic Club

Luke DiMirra 21, Danny Waller 14, Banks Fryer 11, Caleb Ashworth 9, Chalmers Rogland 7, Noah Sweeney 4.

 

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