By GARY DOVE
for the Daily Telegraph
WELCH — Unlike their namesakes from the wild, the PikeView Panthers struck quickly last night at the Castle, forcing 28 Mount View turnovers in a 75-52 win over the Golden Knights.
Will Webster and David Keen led the Panthers’ offense with 23 and 22 points respectively, as 11 players got into the scoring column for the now 5-6 PikeView squad.
Maurice Brown was the lone twin digit scorer for the Knights, who played their fourth game in as many evenings, and dropped to 5-9 with the setback.
Brown, who finished with 18 points, had six points and five rebounds in the initial frame that helped Mount View to a 15-12 advantage. The senior had a pair of stickbacks in that first quarter, as the Golden Knights led the opening frame the entire way, except for ties at two and four.
Keen’s driving goal, followed a jumper from the top of the key with 6:47 remaining in the second gave PikeView its first lead of the evening, albeit a short one, at 16-15.
Donnell Bonds’ putback of a free throw miss see-sawed the Knights back into the lead at 18-17 before Webster bombed a three from the front with 4:22 showing in the half to stake the visitors to the lead for keeps.
Keen scored 12 of his 22 points in the second quarter, helping the Panthers to 35-26 lead at the break.
PikeView knocked down 8-of-13 shots in that deciding period, while out-rebounding Mount View 8-5, and more importantly limiting the Knights to but one offensive rebound over that eight-minute span.
The Panthers’ press kicked into high gear in third, causing 11 Golden Knights’ turnovers and allowing PikeView to extend its advantage to 52-36 going into the final chapter.
The fourth was a wild run-and-shoot affair, with the Panthers outgunning Mount View 23-16 for the final count.
Analyzed Panther head coach William Anderson, “Coming up here we were very concerned about Mount View. We knew they were very quick and athletic. We knew we would have to play a pretty good game [to] win and capitalize on that to night. We did that. We had a total team effort, both offensively and defensively.”
Speaking to the aggressiveness of his press, Anderson continued, “It’s not normally that aggressive. We’ve been working on that, trying to get an uptempo game started. Tonight was the first night we’ve really had that.”
Remarked Golden Knight head coach Gary Brown, “Turnovers was the major factor. PikeView played extremely well, I thought. They knew we were tired so they used two platoons, running people in and out. It’s our fourth game in four nights, but I’m not going to make excuses. I thought they [Panthers] did a good job of pushing the tempo up.”
Mount View will host Mingo Central next Friday night at the Castle. PikeView visits James Monroe on Tuesday.