Friday, December 22, 2006

Defense key in Panther 66-55 league victory

Dietrich falls one night, Valley the next


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Carey?s Kade Peterson hustles for the ball in a game earlier this season. The Panthers extended their winning streak to six with victories this week over Dietrich and Valley. Photo by David N. Seelig

The Carey High School boys' basketball team's pesky full-court trapping defense provided the Panthers with a 20-7 first period lead in Tuesday night's Northside Conference match-up between host Carey and archrival Dietrich Blue Devils.

Never looking back, the efficient Panthers maintained a comfortable lead the rest of the way, winning 66-55 on their home hardwoods.

"We played well overall," sixth-year head coach Dick Simpson said. "I thought we had a lot of energy and played good defense as a whole."

Coming out in a 2-2-1 full-court press, the Panthers (8-1, 3-0 league) had 24 steals and forced Dietrich (3-4, 2-2 league) into 27 total turnovers.

After spotting the Blue Devils a 4-0 lead two minutes into the game, coach Simpson continued to call for the press, allowing Carey to go on a 20-3 run to end the first. Carey called off the trap in the second period, then pressured again after the break.

"We came off with a pretty good start. But we wanted to mix it up defensively and not let them get into a rhythm." Simpson said.

Offensively, Carey matched its point total from the season's earlier win over the Devils, a 66-64 horse race at the Murtaugh tournament.

Leading the way once again was senior Brad Hunt, who had 20 points in their first meeting. Crashing the boards hard in the first half, Hunt went into the intermission with 10 points and 6 rebounds and finished the contest with 14 and 7.

Also in double-digits were Panther senior James Carlson (13 points, 4 rebounds) and pesky junior Blake Whitby (11 points, 3 boards, 3 steals).Tyler Parke (9 points, 9 boards, 4 steals) and D.J. Simpson (7 points, 4 boards, 6 steals) had good efforts.

It was Whitby and senior guard Cody Baird who provided the aggressive defensive pressure the Panthers needed to counter Dietrich's (7 3-pointers) hot hands behind the arc.

Whitby scored back-to-back buckets in both second and third period runs to maintain the Carey lead and Baird (5 points, 4 rebounds, 4 steals, 4 assists) contributed to the solid and balanced offensive attack.

"They're (Baird and Whitby) our spark plugs," Simpson said. "We always get lots of hustle out of them. They make us go."

Dietrich (18-for-24 free throws) was led by Anthony Pitman (20 points, 45 rebounds), Dakota Norman (16 points, 18 rebounds) and Tyrell Porter (11 points).

Carey win streak hits six

Wednesday, Carey extended its winning streak to six games as the Panthers took a 10-point lead into halftime and cruised to a 62-47 non-league win over Valley of Hazelton.

Leading the way again was Hunt (17 points), with Carlson (10 points) cracking double-digits as well.

Baird hit from the behind the arc twice as Carey's stingy defense held Valley to 19 total points in the second and third periods combined.

The Panthers take an 11-day break for the holiday season, resuming action in Bliss on Jan. 2 at 7:30. Their next home game is Jan. 5, pitting them against tough Richfield.




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