Pandora-Gilboa’s Nate Maag excites the crowd with this dunk Friday night in Pandora as the Rockets took on Leipsic.
Nate Reynolds | The Lima News
PANDORA — Pandora-Gilboa came into its Putnam County League matchup with Leipsic with an undefeated record and hoped to keep it that way going into the Christmas break.
Both teams seemingly had issues finding the basket early on in the game. The Rockets hit just 10 of 28 in the first half, while the Vikings had their own mistakes, turning the ball over 13 times in the first 16 minutes.
However, the Rockets rebounded so to speak in the second half and pulled away with a 48-37 victory.
“We didn’t shoot the ball very well, which we didn’t, then you better be more solid at the other end,” Rockets coach Mike Lee said. “There just wasn’t a whole lot of flow to this game; a lot of that is to the credit of the Leipsic kids. They got after us defensively.”
Aiden Harris paced the way for Pandora-Gilboa (7-0, 2-0 PCL) with 19 points, 11 of those coming in the second half.
Ty Lammers led the Vikings (4-3, 1-1 PCL) with 12 points.
The Rockets’ woes started early in the contest, P-G shot 6 of 17 in the first quarter despite taking a 12-7 lead into the second period. Avery Paris (9 points) hit the first three of the game for the Vikings, cutting the deficit to 16-14 with 3:59 to go in the half.
The Vikings looked as if they were going to make a game of it early in the second half, scoring the first four points of the third as Paris and Tavis Bejarano hit back-to-back buckets to make it a 20-19 contest.
However, the Rockets went on a 9-2 spurt, paced by Aiden Haris and Colin Harris, putting the home team up by a 29-21 count. During the spurt, P-G forced nine of the Vikings’ 22 turnovers.
“Hopefully that is our mantra,” Lee said. “We have been picking the basketball up early in the full court, and any time you give up 30 points you should get a win. Fortunately, we were able to do that tonight.”
As the Vikings started strong in the third quarter, Harris led the way for Pandora-Gilboa in the fourth. Aiden Harris went on a 8-0 spurt of his own, extending the lead to 41-25 early in the stanza.
“There is a kid that is in year number four of varsity basketball, and you expect that,” Lee said. “He is a true leader, and naturally we want the ball in his hands in critical, crunch-time situations.”
Dave Boninsegna wrote this for LimaScore.com.
