A pair of free throws with 40 seconds left from sophomore Grady Knechtly gave Peebles the lead for good in their 56-51 district tournament win at Southeastern on February 21. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
The seedings on the Division VI boys bracket may have had Southeastern above Peebles, but you could never convince the die-hard Indians fan that they couldn’t handle the Panthers. Throw the records out the door when tournament time rolls around, everyone is 0-0 and the Indians proved that point to the max last Friday night on the hardwood at Southeastern High School.
On the strength of 19-point efforts from both junior Paxton Ryan and sophomore Josh McClary plus nine three-point baskets, the Indians pulled off the “W” in the district quarterfinal match up, holding the lead until late in the game then rallying to advance with the 56-51 triumph.
“They were favored coming in so we felt like the pressure was on them,” said Peebles head coach Josh Arey in his postgame radio interview. “I thought our kids responded and we had a good game plan that we executed and we were fortunate enough to come out with a win. We were concerned about their physicality but for the most part we were able to keep them off the glass.”
“We had some mismatches on the defensive end with their size and strength but we were hoping the same would be true on our end and we could exploit some of that and get to the rim and hit some easy shots.”
The Tribe came out of the gates with fire, scoring the game’s first eight points, only to see the Panthers close the gap to 12-9 at the end of the first quarter. The Indians kept the lead at 22-17 at the half and led 39-34 before the decisive final period.
Peebles held a 50-48 lead with just over a minute to play but the Panthers grabbed the advantage on a three-point bucket, setting the stage for some late-game Indians heroics. With 40 seconds to play, Peebles’ Grady Knechtly went to the free throw line and hit a pair to put his team back on top and with four more points over that final 40 seconds, the Tribe held on for the tourney victory.
“I’m proud of our kids for hanging on and executing down the stretch,” added Coach Arey.
With the win, the Indians, now 10-12, move on to the Division VI district semifinals on Wednesday, February 26, where they will face the Huntington Huntsmen, who were 63-60 upset winners over Symmes Valley. The semifinal battle is set for an 8:30 p.m. tip off at Jackson High School, with a Sunday afternoon trip to Ohio University and the district title game at stake.
