The SIAST Palliser Panthers opened their exhibition Prairie Athletic Conference (PAC) season with a couple of games against rival Bethany over the weekend.
On Friday, the Eagles roared out to a 12-point lead that they never relinquished. The Panthers tried to battle back in the remaining quarters, but couldn’t overcome the deficit and dropped their home opener 62-58.
“We learned a lot this weekend. The first game, both teams have never seen each other (this season). Bethany is a very quick young team with extremely good shooters,” said Panthers co-coach Ken McDougall. “We didn’t handle it very well to begin with, but we learned a lot in that game and learned what we had to do to compete against a team like that.”
Brody Wassman led the Panthers with 15 points and Ron Kulcheski added 10 points in the loss.
On Saturday, the Panthers learned from their mistakes and came out strong and avenged the earlier loss with a 72-51 victory. The Panthers moved the ball well and reduced their turnovers, which helped lead them to the win.
“Saturday morning we came out much better and played much stronger defence, which led to a much better offence for our team,” said McDougall. “We pulled away with a really good win. It was a very productive weekend of how we compete against other college kids.”
Eric Johnson scored 18 points and Kulcheski chipped in 15 points in the win.
For more on this story, read an upcoming edition of the Times-Herald.
