February 2, 2002 12:57 AM
Rocks outlast Panthers
By Hank Sundeen, staff sports writer With the loss of four players over the last week
and a half -- two who left the team and two on academic suspension -- Rock Island's boys'
basketball team had to develop some mental toughness in a hurry for Friday night's Western
Big 6 showdown with United Township.
The Rocks came up with just enough toughness -- and defense -- to pull out a 35-32
league win over UT at the Panther Den.
``I thought the kids displayed a lot of toughness right from the start,'' said
first-year Rocky coach Thom Sigel after his club (10-8, 3-4 Big 6) snapped a four-game
skid. ``We talked about playing tough and playing with confidence before the game.
``We came out with confidence and we came to win, which was important. When you are
struggling and shots aren't falling, it's hard to hold a level of confidence.''
For UT, it was a tough-to-swallow home-court loss.
``This was a case of a team asleep at the wheel,'' said Panther coach Scott Hunter
after his club slipped to 9-11, 4-3. ``We had an opportunity of keeping our chances alive
of playing for a conference championship. But it just wasn't there.
``This is, by far, the flatest game we have played in this gym. It was unreal. We
scored only four points in the first quarter and only had 12 at the half. The only
positive was that we did finally decide to get back in the game and we did put ourselves
into a position to take the game into overtime, but it didn't happen.''
Rock Island's Munchie Muskeyvalley sank one free throw with :13 left to give the Rocks
a 35-32 edge, but the Panthers had one last shot at taking the game into an extra session.
UT senior Dustin Freeman launched a 3-pointer with two seconds left, but his shot bounced
off the iron.
``I'm proud of the way the kids did battle back,'' said Hunter.
While the win was anything but an artful event, Sigel was pleased with a lot of what he
saw from the Rocks. That was especially true about a defense that held the Panthers to 16
points through the first three quarters.
``We did some good things, but there are things offensively we need to try and do
better,'' Sigel said. ``It's tough to try and simulate a 6-foot-10 shot blocker in
practice but I thought we did a better job this time than last time of taking the ball at
(UT center James) Hughes.''
Hughes finished with nine points, but more impressively blocked a whopping 12 shots.
Trailing 26-16 heading into the final period, the Panthers came alive to equal their
effort of the first three quarters. Hughes hit a pair of baskets and reserve Cory Lewis
also nailed two to pull the Panthers to within 34-32 with 1:10 left in the game.
``They started to attack the basket and we were still crowding them instead of playing
the drive,'' Sigel said of the Panther comeback. ``We got a little tentative with the ball
where we quit looking at the basket. If we make some of our free throws, we're in a much
better situation.''
Rocky reserve Dail Rice, playing in his second varsity game of the season, led the
Rocks with eight points and seven rebounds.
Sharp paces Rocks: Justin Sharp knocked in a dozen points in pacing the 15-1, 7-0 Rock
Island sophomores to a 22-8 first period advantage en route to a 74-55 win over United
Township.
A.J. Veasey, Terry Evans and Sam Jackson each added 10 points each for the Rocks. UT's
Vernon Reed had 19 points and teammate Dante Harris added 15.
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