MAGNET COVE -- Turnovers and poor rebounding plagued Cutter Morning Star Tuesday night as the Magnet Cove Panthers cruised to a 52-36 win over the Eagles.
The Eagles (6-5, 1-2 2A-5) pulled down just 15 rebounds while turning the ball over 18 times compared to 16 boards and 12 turnovers by the Panthers (9-2, 4-0).
"It was huge," said Magnet Cove head coach Matt Williamson. "I haven't said that enough about my guys -- they do fly around to the ball when they can. When we stop reaching and make it hard for other teams, they usually will cough it up, and we'll get some opportunities to turn the ball over."
Trailing by five points at the break, 22-17, the Eagles struggled to make shots in the third frame, sinking just one bucket for 5.9 percent from the floor as Magnet Cove took control of the game.
"I didn't think we did anything just really good for the whole game," said Cutter Morning Star head coach Matt Carter. "We've got to play together. We've got to play with better energy to start the game and play harder. We had some good moments, sure.
"There were good moments that you could pick apart all the way through the game, but at the end of the day, all the credit goes to Magnet Cove for playing with a lot of toughness and wanting the game more than we did, in my opinion."
The Panthers took a 25-18 lead by the 4:41 mark of the third quarter, stretching their lead to 33-18 before Rhett Barrett sank Cutter Morning Star's only basket of the quarter in the final seconds for a 33-20 deficit entering the final eight minutes.
"In the third quarter, we've been doing really well on that all year," Williamson said. "I think we stayed with it again, just scoring-wise. It's a lot easier for us. We started moving the ball.
"Once the ball finds energy, we're pretty good. If we can get the ball moving and everybody touches it, we can move the ball. We've got multiple guys that are quick and can knock down shots. That's kind of what we got to in the second half."
Cutter Morning Star guard Ryan Brown sank a bucket to kick off the fourth frame. Magnet Cove's Dylan Foster sank one of his own 30 seconds later before Barrett caught a pass from Chris Kennedy for a trey to pull the Eagles within 10 points at 35-25.
The Eagles pulled within 38-30 with three minutes off the clock with a bucket by Kennedy, but that was as close as they would get as the Panthers found their rhythm following a timeout.
"In the fourth quarter, we kind of let it get a little scary there for a little bit," Williamson said. "Uncharacteristic for us, we quit taking care of the basketball. I called a full timeout and challenged them a little bit, and they responded to it. It held on. We knocked down free throws, and that's the key to most games."
Magnet Cove stretched it out to a 43-32 lead before Brown took it to the hole to make it 43-34 with 2:40 to go. The Panthers then closed out the quarter on an 8-2 run to secure the win.
The Eagles took an early lead with Barrett putting up a 3-pointer to start the game off a pass from Brown, and, following a free throw by Magnet Cove's Eli Dawson, Kennedy made it 5-1 with a bucket with three minutes off the clock. Stretching the lead to 7-1 just 15 seconds later, the Eagles made it 9-3 with 1:11 left in the period before the Panthers put up four in the final minute to pull within 9-7.
"Once again, we started slow in the first quarter -- most of the first quarter," Williamson said. "The last two minutes of the first quarter, we kind of settled in, started making shots that we're capable of making. We were kind of pressing a little bit because I want us to have a better start. Defensively, we've been fine, so that kind of helps us."
The Panthers opened the second quarter on a 9-2 run, taking their first lead with 5:44 left in the half. The Eagles shot 30 percent from the floor in the quarter while hitting just 2 of 6 from the free throw line as Magnet Cove shot 58 percent from the floor to take the 22-17 lead.
Brown led the Eagles with 14 points on the night, grabbing four rebounds with two steals and two assists. Kennedy finished with 12 points with one rebound, an assist and a block, and Barrett had 10 points with two steals, one rebound, one assist and one block. Colby Heaton led the Eagles with three steals.
"Rebounding is an effort thing," Carter said. "It's a want-to thing. We battled that issue most of the year, and, tonight, it came out and reared its ugly head tonight against us. It was a big part of the game.
"It's a team game; we've got to play better as a team overall. We didn't do it tonight. We played not the right way, in my opinion."
Levi Horton and Noah Maher ended up with double-doubles on the night. Horton had 16 points with 11 rebounds, four steals and three assists, and Maher had 10 points with 11 rebounds, two steals and a block. Ethan Zaunbrecher also finished with three assists.
The Panthers will travel to Poyen Friday to face the Indians (1-6, 0-3). The Eagles will travel to Carlisle to face the Bison (1-6, 0-3).
Sports on 12/13/2018