Roundup Record Tribune & Winnett Times -

The Panthers were back at it on the road at Huntley Project on Monday evening. The Red Devils are pretty notorious for trying to jump on you early and then let you try to dig yourself out of the hole. The Panthers did get off to a slow start as we missed a couple of easy baskets against the Red Devil full court pressure. The Panthers slowly began to right the ship as four different Panthers scored in the quarter. Jordon, Dustin, Braedan , and Kylen all got on the board in the first quarter and the Panthers trailed 15-13. From that point forward- borrowing the words from the New Top Gun movie Maverik- “it was a dog fight to the end.” The Panthers did a great job of reeling in the Red Devils and then played some fantastic defense to get the lead at halftime 29-27. The second half was a game of surges for both teams and neither team let the other get to far away. We have to give credit where credit is due and the Red Devils Parker Cook had a whale of a game for the Red Devils. He scored 34 of the Red Devils 51 points. The game came down to the last 6 seconds as Parker drove baseline and put up a floater that missed. The Panthers weren’t able to secure the rebound and the Red Devils put in the game winning basket as time expired to win 51-50.

Scoring was as follows: Kylen Wolff 19, Jace Lemmel 12, Braedan Bilden 7, Dustin Gairrett 5, Jordon Olson 4, and Morgan Sanner 3.

Four games in five days is a lot to ask of any team but that’s what the Panthers had to do as they hosted Red Lodge on Tuesday evening. The Rams tried to bury the Panthers early with some full court zone pressure. The Panthers were able to break it but didn’t finish around the rim on consecutive plays. The Panthers got off to another slow start but half way through the first quarter shots began to fall and the Panthers closed the gap to 19-15. Again, the Panthers had five different players score as Kylen, Jace, Morgan, Jordon, and Braedan all put up points. The theme of Tuesday’s game was the Panthers would get behind by 15 points and then come storming back. In the last three quarters that’s exactly what would happen and every time- dead legs and all- the Panthers would cut the lead to 3-4 points. The Panthers weren’t able to overcome the Rams and lost 86-73.

Scoring was as follows: Kylen Wolff 28, Braedan Bilden 18, Jace Lemmel 14, Jordon Olson 6, Dustin Gairrett 4, and Morgan Sanner 3.

I was very proud of the Panther effort over the last five days but not as proud as Wednesday morning. With temperatures at 25 below the Panthers showed up to deliver Food Baskets as part of the Christmas Food Basket Program that was organized by Tami Engstrom. Jace Lemmel, Jordon Olson, Morgan Sanner, Braedan Bilden, Kylen Wolff, Dustin Gairrett, Thomas Bruner, and Joey Graham braved the elements and helped families in need. The Panthers also continued their tradition of help with the Salvation Army Bell Ringing at Van Dykes. Jace Lemmel, Jordon Olson, Morgan Sanner, Braedan Bilden, Kylen Wolff, Evan Rustad, Dustin Gairrett, Thomas Bruner, Joey Graham, and Trey Stigen took time out of their schedules to help collect donations for the Salvation Army that help our community in times of need. Parents congratulations as you have some wonderful and caring young men!! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Roundup Panthers.

The Panthers hosted the Columbus Cougars coming out of winter break in a 4B district match up. Columbus is seeded number 1 in the conference and have a very strong basketball team. They have a big front court which create a lot of problems for all of the district 4B teams. True to form the Cougars came out and pounded the ball inside to their big guy who got off to a good start. He scored 8 of his 24 in the first quarter. The Panthers did a relatively good job defensively other than a three minute span when they didn’t rebound the ball very well. Four different Panthers scored in the quarter as Dustin, Braedan, Jace, and Kylen all got on the board. The second quarter was much better for the Panthers as they switched from man and two different zones. Morgan got into the scoring mix with the other four and the Panthers forged ahead to lead at halftime 23-20. The Panthers were very inconsistent with their rotations in the second half on the defensive end which allowed Columbus some easy looks. Offensively, the Panthers got a little stagnant and Columbus made life difficult on the Panthers. The Cougars outscored the Panthers 28-13 in the second half to win 48-36.

Scoring was as follows: Kylen Wolff 16, Braedan Bilden 7, Dustin Giarrett 5, Jace Lemmel 4, Jordon Olson 3, and Morgan Sanner 1.

Saturday had the Panthers challenging the Malta Mustangs just south of Canada. I would love to be able to say the Panthers put up a great fight and it was a helleva game but it wasn’t. Malta jumped out early to a 7-0 lead and the Panthers battled back to tie the game at 12. The Mustangs scored the final seven points of the quarter for a lead they would never relinquish. The Mustangs made 8 three point shots in the second quarter and scored 36 points in the quarter while the Panthers could only manage 6 points. The Panthers never got on track offensively or defensively and lost 84-23.

Scoring was as follows: Kylen Wolff 9, Braedan Bilden 7, Jace Lemmel 6, and Jordan Olson 1.