Saco-Whitewater Panthers earn first trip to Eastern C in three years; To face Mon-Dak Thunder

For the first time in three seasons the Saco-Whitewater Panthers are entering the Eastern C Divisional tournament.

The team earned their right after defeating Lustre Christian 50-33 in the opening round of the 3C District Tournament last Thursday in Scobey and squeaking out a 34-32 victory against Nashua in a 3rd place consolation game on Saturday.

"It's pretty amazing, we were talking in the locker room after the game and not a single player on our team has ever dressed out for a divisional game," Senior Justin Funk told the PCN. "It's completely new for all of us, except our coaches."

The Panthers would lose 55-28 in a semi-final match against first place Hinsdale.

In the Eastern C Tournament Saco-Whitewater will open against the Mon-Dak Thunder (Westby-Grenora), who is 2C's district champion after snapping Fairview's 17 game winning streak in the championship.

Mon-Dak however is no slouch, with their only two losses on the year coming from Fairview earlier in the season.

If Saco-Whitewater can overcome Mon-Dak in the opening round, the Panthers will face the winner of Culbertson and Frazer in the semi-finals.

If the team loses anytime in the tournament, Saco-Whitewater will need to win-out with a little help in order to make the State Tournament in Billings mid-March.

With Hinsdale, Savage, Scobey and Fairview on the other side of the bracket, this tournament boasts many great games to watch in Wolf Point this weekend.

The Saco-Panthers faced the Nashua Porcupines for the fourth time this season for the third place consolation prize last weekend at the 3C District Tournament and for the fourth time they defeated Nashua, in a game that was far too close for comfort.

The team won 34-32, thanks to tough defense and even scoring for the Panthers.

"They beat us four times last year," Funk said. "They knocked us out of the tournament last year and we did it to them this year, so it's kind of like I guess we're even now."

Jeret Warren led Saco-Whitewater with nine points.

He also came up big against Nashua's Lane Nickels who had 15 of Nashua's 21 points in the first half.

"We pretty much just put Jeret on Nickels (in the second half)," Coach Malone said. "He was all over Nickels in the third and fourth quarter. It was a big thing for us in that second half."

Warren played lock down defenese in the second half not allowing Nickels to score another point in the game.

Both Chance Love and Layne Engel had eight points in the win. Justin Funk had four points in the win. Channing Mavencamp had three points. Trace Simonson added two points.

Going into half-time of the game down 21-11, the season looked like it might end for the Panthers.

That's when Coach Malone talked sternly to the team.

"We were pretty sluggish and at that moment Nashua was taking care of the ball better, we weren't hitting shots and they were working a lot harder than we were," Coach Malone said.

He admitted that the team played good defense, but the team didn't play with a sense of urgency.

He told his team that they needed to take baby steps offensively, not forcing shots.

"Just go down and make every possession count and we have to change the way we defend," Coach Malone said.

The talk worked because the Panthers sank four treys in the third, while outscoring Nashua 18-5 in the third quarter, putting the Panthers up 29-26.

Though the team had the lead, they struggled to score only sinking two field goals and one free throw.

That free throw, made by Layne Engel, made the score 34-32.

With Nickels being held in check by Warren, the Porcupines also struggled scoring, only putting up six points, until Engel's free throw.

With only a few seconds left the Porcupines nearly scored eight in the fourth, which would have tied the game, however as a Nashua player was about to put a shot up that went in, Nashua's Coach Fromdahl called for a time-out.

''I was thinking it was a basket and a foul. Then I saw one of the officials wave it off," Coach Malone said.

After the time-out, Nashua had a good attempt at a game tying shot, however after the ball caught the rim time ran out and the Panthers were victorious.

In their win against the Lustre Christian Lions, Trace Simonson went off for 25 points.

Love scored 12 points. Warren and Engel scored five points a piece. Mavencamp scored two points and Funk scored one point.

"It didn't start out too well for us," Funk said. "We didn't get many calls to go our way and we kind of struggled in the first half. But then we got our stuff together in the second half."

The Panthers still stayed on top at the half, 22-16.

Saco-Whitewater's defense shined in the third, only giving up six points, while scoring 14 points of their own.

There's no limit to what the Panthers can do if the team works hard on defense. With nine wins this year the team comes in as an underdog, which has played to their advantage at times this season.

The Panthers game against the Mon-Dak Thunder is scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. tomorrow.