Last season, Jamestown's Zack Panebianco dialed up his game to a whole new level in the second half of the year, resulting in some classic performances in big games. There was the unforgettable 34-point night in the regionals against Greece Athena and the 31-point game in the state semifinal, among a series of 30-plus point outings on his way to securing the CC MVP. After a sluggish start to last night's game against Amherst, Panebianco dialed things up again and put forth a masterful second half performance that allowed his team to hold on to a lead it built heading into halftime and put the Tigers away.
Panebianco struck from long range five times and scored 28 of his game-high 33 points in the second half, as Jamestown knocked off visiting Amherst, 68-58. The win improved the Red Raiders to 10-2 on the season, while the Tigers slipped to the same mark of 10-2.
Jamestown took an early 12-8 lead after one quarter, as they looked inside for Stephen Carlson, who delivered six points in the quarter. After the Red Raiders advanced their lead to 15-8 early in the second quarter, the Tigers made a run. Three-pointers from Kelijah Willis and Nathan Woldu, along with four points from Darien Lowe accounted for a four minute stretch where Amherst outscored the Red Raiders, 11-3, capitalizing on a series of misses from Jamestown to put them in front, 19-18. It would be the lone lead of the contest for the Tigers.
"We were 0-8 from behind the arc in the first half and it started affecting our energy at the defensive end and we started giving them some easy shots around the basket in our zone", Jamestown head coach Ben Drake said.
Jamestown called a timeout when the score moved in favor of the Tigers, switching defenses in search of a spark.
"At that point, I thought we just needed to turn the pressure up and speed them up a little bit", Drake said. "We started to press them and went back to man, which changed the tempo and got us some easy baskets at the other end off of our defense".
Panebianco connected on a pair of free throws to give Jamestown the lead back. As Amherst brought the ball up court, Zacc Kinsey picked the ball handler and turned a steal into points. After another steal by Kinsey, Carlson scored and converted an 'And 1'. Then Kinsey got another bucket, all part of an 11-2 run to close the half for the Red Raiders, which gave them a 28-21 lead at halftime.
The start of the second half also signaled the beginning of the Panebianco magic show. It started simple enough, a 3-pointer on the Red Raiders first possession. Amherst's TC Brown answered it with a traditional three-point play on the other end. The next trip down the court for Jamestown, Panebianco sticks another trey and the Tigers come back with a bucket from junior big man, Amadi Ikpeze. Just a few seconds after Ikpeze's basket, Panebianco struck again, this time from beyond NBA range. The Red Raiders then got a stop and came back down the floor looking to get the ball back in Panebianco's hands. He had to come way out to get it, as far out as he was for the last bomb, and without any hesitation, let it fly...bang! Four straight 3-point bombs, catching nothing but net, in three minutes, putting Jamestown up 40-26. Each time Panebianco began to pull the trigger, everyone in the gym not wearing Amherst colors, immediately stood in anticipation.
The 3-point fever was contagious, as Ben Larson got in the act from the left corner the next time the Red Raiders had the ball. After another stop, Panebianco pulled up a mid-range jumper - same result. The barrage of 3-pointers and Jamestown momentum pushed its lead on the Tigers to 45-28, midway through the third quarter, a stanza that saw Panebianco net 18 of his 28 second half points.
"In the first half, he (Panebianco) missed a few and then he started hesitating", Drake said. "To his credit, he was mentally tough enough to not let it affect the whole game and came out with a killer instinct for the second half".
The Tigers were able to make up some points on Jamestown before the final buzzer to end the game, but never got any closer than seven points the rest of the way. TC Brown was strong over the last two quarters, scoring 18 of his team-high 20 points in the second half. But Panebianco remained aggressive to the end as well, scoring 10 more points over the final five minutes, including an exciting aerial finish at the basket and another long '3'.
Carlson ended the night with 14 points and seven rebounds, while Kinsey scored 10 points to go with six boards, four assists, and two steals.
Lowe scored 17 points for Amherst.
-centercourt
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