Nappanee Advance-News, Volume 128, Number 9, Nappanee, Elkhart County, 3 March 2005 — Page 7

All the Kingsmen couldn’t stop Panthers

' By Anthony Godson f - Editor ' f The North Wood Panthers T s rave had their fair share of close ' ;ames this season, including * wo overtime losses to Warsaw r ind a one-point defeat to r ’lymouth, but that experience, iprinkled with a career-best 38 joints from junior Ryne __ Jghtfoot, was enough to defeat r he Penn Kingsmen 59-58 in ' jvertime on Feb. 22 at The Pit. "We ought to be getting - tmarter," coach Dan Gunn said * ibout his team's experience in dose games. "I told them, we \ ust gotta win one of these overi imes soon." The Panthers did get their roach an overtime win, with Jghtfoot hitting a runner in the ane with 3.5 seconds remain- ; ng,. that gave North Wood the l; 39-58 lead and win. ? With North Wood down 57-58 /vith 12 seconds remaining, here wasn't much doubt about who would be taking the last ihot. Lightfoot began the game jy scoring 16 of his team's 18 : irst quarter points, and finished he game just as strong. "He got off to a great start didn't he. And a great finish," Gunn said about Lightfoot, who jassed 2003 grad Ryan Bradley :o move into third on MorthWood's career scoring list ; vith 1,084 points. ■ Lightfoot has been on a scor- - ng rampage in February, scor- - ng 32 or more points in four of r :he team's last six games. £ Coming into the game, Penn's r Tyler Brown was averaging 15.8 \ Joints a game, and while he £ scored 20 against North Wood, :he team held him to only five in first half, thanks to the * defense of junior Zac Lechlitner. "He's a tough matchup for " js," Gunn said about Brown. 'Zac's 6-foot tall, Brown's 6-:oot-4, and I thought, by in large le did a pretty good job." The game was one of runs, ind Lightfoot started things off jy scoring the game's first five joints, helping the Panthers ump out to the 5-0 lead. Penn responded to the run, by ripping off a 7-0 run to take a 7-5 iead with 3:54 left in the first. Lightfoot then went on to score the team's next eight points to ■ regain the lead at 13-10 before Lechlitner got in on the scoring, 1- hitting a field goal with 54 seconds left in the quarter. -Lightfoot then scored the last points of the quarter, a 3-pointer with 19 seconds left, that capped off an 11-0 North Wood, ~run and gave the Panthers an 18-10 lead at the end of one. Lightfoot scored North Wood's next two points in .the secohd quarter, before taking a seat at the 6:30 mark in the 1- sscond. At the time, Lightfoot had 18 of his team's 20 points. "He was exhausted." Gunn said about Lightfoot's break. After what he was doing, I -could see why. He was doing a good job of scoring and £ Senior Wes BeMiller showed Chat the ship would stir straight On his absence, connecting on a on the team's first Offensive possession after lightfoot's departure, giving Jhe Panthers a 23-14 lead. ► The nine-point lead was r NorthWood's largest, but Penn fought back, using a 10-4 run to •end the half only down by three Uat 27-24. f. The Kingsmen came out with jiew life in the second half, 'jjutscoring the Panthers 23-9 in !he third quarter, taking advantage of North Wood's lack of size, almost scoring at will on the inside. "In the third quarter, we were just kind of out to lunch defensively and gave up a lot of easy .buckets," Gunn said. "We got through that quarter, and kind ■ijf picked it up in the beginning of the fourth quarter." Things did pick up in the fourth quarter, and they needed jjo for the Panthers as they Entered the quarter down 47-36. ' Lightfoot started the quarter off by hitting two straight 3pointers, which brought yNorthWood to within 42-47 fwith 6:15 left in the game, v "Ryno hit a couple of 3s that got us started," Gunn said. "It's c a good thing he was scoring." North Wood's first 12 points

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DAT PHOTO Senior Trevor Shields puts one up in front of the fans.

of the quarter were all made possible by the 3-point line, with senior Trevor Shields and Lechlitner joining in Lightfoot's 3-point shooting. Following Lechlitner's 3 with 3:23 left in the game, North Wood found themselves down 48-52, and following another field goal by Lightfoot, North Wood was only down by two with 2:44 to play. North Wood got its first big chance after Brown was whistled for traveling, handing the ball over to the Panthers with 58 seconds remaining in regulation, down 52-50. Lightfoot seized the opportunity, and hit two free throws with 41.6 seconds remaining that tied the game, and ultimately sent it to overtime. In overtime, it was Shields that delivered the first blow, hitting a 3-pointer 21 seconds into the extra period, but Penn responded with a 6-0 run, propelling them to a 58-55 lead with 1:32 left to play. Lightfoot brought his team to within 57-58 following his field goal with 58 seconds remaining, laying the game in the hands of Panthers defense and the Kingsmen free throw shooting. The Panthers had to send Penn leading scorer Brown to the line with 12.8 seconds remaining, but he couldn't respond, missing the first of a one and one, giving the ball back to the Panthers with 12 seconds left. From there, the ball didn't leave Lightfoot's hands until he put up a shot that went down and also came with an extra foul shot with 3.5 seconds left. He missed the free throw, but a 3/4 court shot was off the mark and North Wood left the court victorious. "What do they say?," Gunn said, recalling an old quote. "Good coaches can make a close game, but the players create tl\e magic at the end that wins." • NORTHWOOD 59, „ PENN 58 At North Wood Score by Quarters N-Wood 18 9 9 16 7 —59 Penn 10 14 23 5 658 NW: Zac Lechlitner 2 2-2 7; Ryne Lightfoot 14 5-7 38; Wes BeMiller 2 0-t) 5; Trevor Shields 2 0-0 6; Ben Bemiller 1 0-0 2; Kyle Yoder 0 1-21. TOTALS: 21 8-11 59. Penn: Tyler Harriacher 1 0-0 2; Brent Dunaway 5 0-0 10; Caleb Laidig 9 2-4 20; Beau Dunfee 1 0-

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DAT PHOTO Junior Ben Bemiller has his eyes set on the rim.

0 3; Wes Laidig 5 0-0 10; Danny Williams 2 1-1 5. TOTALS: 28 47 58. 3-point field goals: NW 9 (Lightfoot ’5, Shields 2, Lechlitner, BeMiller), Penn 2 (C. Laidig, Dunfee). Turnovers: NW 7, Penn 11. Team fouls:

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Sports

DAT PHOTOS Above: (Near to far) Ryne Lightfoot, Trevor Shields, Zach Troyer and Ben Bemiller prepare for an out-of-bounds set. Below: Ryne Lightfoot puts up the game-winner against the Penn Kingsmen.

NW 12, Penn 12. North Wood Stats Rebounds: Lightfoot 10, Zach Troyer 3. Assists: Lechlitner 2. Steals: Lechlitner, Bemiller and Yoder 1. Records: NW 14-5, Penn 13-7.

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