Panthers fall in district semifinals

After winning seven of their final eight regular season games, the Mountain Grove Panthers’ basketball team had some momentum entering last week’s Class 4, District 11 Tournament played in Rogersville.
They were hoping to pick up a pair of wins to get another shot at a Logan-Rogersville team that ended their season a year ago.
Unfortunately, after beating Hollister in the opening round, 73-67, the Panthers’ season came to an end with a 70-53 loss to a now 20-win Forsyth Panthers’ squad in the semifinals.
Mountain Grove ended their season with a 16-12 overall record.
“I am very proud of the group of young men we had this year,” said Mountain Grove head coach Nick Openshaw. “We were replacing eight seniors and this group continued to take our team to another level. Winning the conference was the cherry on top for this group of kids. While our young kids did a lot for us, our seniors stepped up in ways they may not have thought were possible to help keep us focused on our goals for the team.”
In their opening round win over Hollister, the Panthers were cruising early.
Kale Gardner and Eli Golden both scored five points in the opening frame for a four-point edge.
Gardner then added a pair of 3-pointers and scored 10 of his team’s 19 points in the second quarter to put his team up, 34-22, at the break.
Brody Emery and Aden Estep came up big in the third quarter, each scoring five points while Sam Peterson and Gardner each had four points to give the Panthers a 14-point lead heading into the final eight minutes of play.
The Tigers put 27 points on the board in the fourth, but it was too late in the Panthers’ six-point win.
Mountain Grove made seven, 3-pointers in the victory.
Gardner scored 19 points; Estep added 18; Golden added 12; Cooper Hoerning and Peterson both had six points; Emery had five points; Brady Anderson scored three points; and Destin Unger had two points.
In the district semifinals, a pair of 20-point quarters for Forsyth were enough to hand Mountain Grove a 70-53 loss.
It was just a four-point deficit early as Estep scored nine points and Peterson added five.
Mountain Grove’s offense though scored just eight more points before halftime as they trailed by 10 at the break.
Forsyth then had a 23-point third quarter to pull away for good.
Estep had a solid second half with 10 points, but his team was unable to pick up the needed win.
He finished the team with a team-high 19 points; Peterson added 12; Gardner added eight points; Emery scored six points; Hoerning and Golden each had three points; while Unger scored two points.