Peninsula Panthers Frosh/Soph Prevail Over Tough and Physical Carson Team

The Peninsula Panthers Frosh/Soph Team entered the 2nd game of the El Segundo Holiday Classic looking to extend their winning ways against the Carson Colts. The Panthers were riding high after a very exciting and effective game against the Torrance Tartars on Wednesday night and they came out as if the excellent play was going to continue.

The Panthers began the game in a very active 2-3 zone that seemed to keep the taller Colts out of the lane and allowed the much smaller Panthers to control the defensive backboards. The Panthers jumped out to a big lead and finished the first quarter with a 26-9 lead. Just before the quarter ended one of the Panthers after getting fouled was assessed a technical foul which gave the Colts two free throws and the ball which, enabled them to cut into the Panther lead.

The 2nd quarter began with the Panthers struggling to find any consistency in their offensive or defensive efforts and the play on both sides became very sloppy. The Panthers were turning the ball over with very little pressure placed upon them and their shot selection was somewhat questionable. The Panthers were fortunate in that the Colts were dealing with the same issues and at the end of the quarter both teams had managed to score only 10 points each and they headed into the half with the score 36-19 in favor of the Panthers.

The 3rd quarter began and the Carson Colts came out of the half in a 2-2-1 half-court trapping press. The Panthers for 2 straight possessions had problems with the trap and quickly turned the ball over and suddenly their lead did not appear to be too safe. The Panthers began to crack the trap but unfortunately their shooting touch left and did not return for the entire quarter. The number of missed wide open uncontested lay-ups were too many to count and the Colts managed to cut the lead to 42-30 by the end of the 3rd quarter.

The 4th and final quarter began and the initial defensive effort was not there for the Panthers, they appeared listless and tired and could not catch simple passes and if they did manage to catch the pass they quickly turned around and would miss wide open layups.

With approximately 5:42 seconds remaining in the quarter a small squirmish broke out between a Carson and Peninsula player and this resulted in a double technical foul against the players involved. This dust-up seemed to ignite the Panthers who then began a run of their own and they were able to push the lead back to double digits. The Panthers began shutting down the Carson offense and also limited them to one shot at the basket. The Panthers outscored the Colts 17-16 in the quarter and went on to win the game 59-46.

This was a good game for the Panthers against a very strong and physical team in the Carson Colts. The Panthers now will play the last team in Pool B which is LACES on Thursday night at 6:00 PM in the El Segundo Main Gym. The Panthers now stand at 7-1 on the season and have 4 games remaining before the very tough Bay League Schedule begins in the 2nd week in January. The Panthers were led by sophomore Wyatt Chang (12 points, 10 rebounds,4 steals, 1 assist), sophomore Jacob Salceda (10 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist), sophomore Rhys Hershberger (10 points, 5 rebounds, 5 steals, 2 assists) and freshman Ethan Ikegami (9points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal).