KNOXVILLE — The Knoxville Panthers were on the prowl Friday night when the Mustangs of Davis County paid a visit. With the Mustangs directly in the cross hairs of the Panthers, the knockout blow came early in a 78-22 Knoxville win.
The Panthers opened the game with a 10-0 run and never looked back. Gabe Clark got it rolling with a breakaway layup, freshman Lincoln Norris followed with a pair of triples and Kaiden Smith rammed an offensive rebound home to complete the run.
Davis County tried to rally with nine first quarter points by Will Carter but Knoxville was cooking behind the arc as Smith, Jay Kellar and Koby Higginbotham all drained threes to lead the Panthers to a 25-11 lead after one quarter of play.
The second stanza was all Knoxville as a 22-2 Panther explosion left the Mustang game plan in shambles. Knoxville continued to find success from long range as Landon Norris rifled in a pair of three balls and Kellar, Higginbotham and Trey Wright also found the bottom of the net from behind the arc.
The only points the Mustangs could find in the second period came on a mid-range jumper by Cason Young. The ice-cold Mustangs went into intermission trailing 47-13 and that famous large lady was warming up her vocal cords.
Early in the third period the Panthers increased their lead to 35 points which allowed the rest of the contest to be played under the running clock mercy rule.
Panther coach Troy Pearson substituted second unit for first unit several times in the first three quarters and in the fourth period a third unit found some action as well.
“Our team depth is excellent,” Pearson said. “I feel that we can go 10 deep and have very little drop off. We are pretty close to being 15 deep as some of those kids on the third unit can play the game well. We just played great team basketball tonight. We shared the ball well, took good shots and made them.”
Panthers had 11 players get into the scoring column and four of them were in double digits. Landon Norris led Knoxville with 15 points, Kellar chipped in with 12 and Lincoln Norris and Higginbotham each notched 10 points. Will led the Mustangs with 11 points.
Knoxville will be at home Tuesday night to take on the Chargers of Chariton while the Mustangs will make the trip across the Wapello county line to tangle with the Comets of Cardinal high school.
Davis County 11 2 6 3 - 22
Knoxville 25 22 14 17 - 78
Knoxville scoring (FG FTM-FTA Pts) – Gabe Clark 2 0-0 5, Lincoln Norris 4 0-0 10, Kaiden Smith 3 0-0 7, Landen Norris 6 1-2 15, Koby Higginbotham 4 0-0 10, Jay Kellar 4 2-3 12, Carson Uitermarkt 1 0-0 2, Trey Wright 2 0-0 5, Connor Willis 2 0-2 4, Tristan Stevenson 1 2-2 4, TaShawn Connor 2 0-0 4. Team 31 5-9 78. Three-point goals (11) – Li. Norris 2, La. Norris 2, Higginbotham 2, Kellar 2, Clark 1, Smith 1, Wright 1.
Knoxville rebounds (37) – Higginbotham 7, La. Norris 5, Uitermarkt 5, Smith 4, Willis 4, Stevenson 3, Li. Norris 2, Kellar 1, Drake Larson 1, Colton Wright 1.
Knoxville Steals (13) – Smith 4, Uitermarkt 3, Willis 2, Clark 1, Li. Norris 1, La. Norris 1, Connor 1.
Knoxville assists (15) – Smith 3, Kellar 3, La. Norris 2, Li. Norris 1, Higginbotham 1, Uitermarkt 1, T. Wright 1, Cael Cook 1, Larson 1, C. Wright 1.
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