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| Gardner too hot to handle for Paola boys |
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| Sports | |||
| Written by Andy Brown | |||
| Wednesday, 23 December 2009 08:00 | |||
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GARDNER — For the first quarter, the Paola boys’ basketball team went toe-to-toe with Frontier League favorite Gardner-Edgerton. Then the Trailblazers caught fire. Gardner had more offense than the Panthers could handle as it racked up 73 points in the final three quarters to roll to a 89-51 victory Thursday in their final game before the holiday break. “We have a lot of work to do on both the offensive and defensive end,” Paola coach Dave Cash said. “I thought we competed with them the first quarter, but Gardner’s athleticism and speed were too much for us. Gardner is one of the best teams in our league, so it is hard to analyze what we did well.” One of the bright spots for the Panthers was the offensive play of forward Travis Hayes. The Paola junior scored a team-high 16 points, but was the lone Panther to score in double figures. However, the defensive play of his whole team is what has Cash concerned going into the two-week layoff period. “I think that our inside game is coming along with Travis and Nick (Wilson), but we have got to do a better job from our guards of getting into our offense and executing,” Cash said. “Travis didn’t play too bad on the offensive end, but like everyone else, we need to get better on transition defense and playing with some urgency on the defensive end.” The Panthers trailed just 16-12 at the end of the first quarter, but the Blazers outscored the Panthers by 17 points in the second to take a 42-19 halftime lead and from there Gardner was in control. Sophomore Isaac Cotton finished just shy of double figures with nine points, while Brandon Goodman and Wilson each added six points. Connor Kresin scored five points, Skylar Hawkins finished with four and Justin Dunmars and Jesse Smail scored three and two points, respectively. Paola hopes to get back on track as it returns to action Jan. 8 when it hosts De Soto. “We are a very young team with only one senior, so, hopefully, as we go along we will mature and keep getting better,” Cash said.
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