Panthers snuff out Broncs

Saratoga's Panthers wrapped up their season conference play nicely with a 66-57 snuff over the Burns Broncs.

Saturday's win over Burns was not only a good way to end Saratoga's regular conference play, they bounced back after Friday's 54-66 conference loss against Lusk. The Panthers also took their vengeance Saturday, as they had previously lost 35-59 against the Broncs in January.

"Burns is a pretty good team, and we had to do our best job to get that win," said head coach Josh Sandlian. "We played well and had good defense, which was big. It felt great to beat them because they're a tough team."

John Brennan led the pack in scoring against the Broncs, managing 21 points, and Emmanuel Pattishall-Baker was second in command for the first time, scoring 17 points. Braxton Schwartzkopf also came in with a hearty 15 points.

"Emmanuel is sneaky, and he'll come off the bench and get rebounds easy," Sandlian said. "John and Braxton also had good games, and even though Ben only had two points, that didn't show what he did on the court. He had to battle and did a lot of good things for us, and he made some good passes from the outside."

Saratoga is now at an even 11-11 overall record and 2-6 for conference. Sandlian said he was proud of the Panthers' drive to not give up against Lusk Friday.

"There was a moment there when the other guys could have split it wide open, but the boys stepped up and didn't let that happen," he said. "Between the first time we played them and tonight, it was totally different. The guys played hard for four quarters and stayed after them. Hopefully we get to regionals and we get to see them again, and hopefully we get after them again."

The Panthers have one more pre-regional game against Hanna-Elk Mountain-Medicine Bow Friday, starting at 4 p.m. in Hanna.

"We've got to be prepared for them, because they are playing better and have really improved," Sandlian said. "We've got to come up and play a good all-around game, and work on the little things to get a win against them as well."

Results from Saratoga's weekend games are shown below:

Key- points [p], rebounds [r], steals [s], assists [a], turnovers [t], blocks [b]

Friday, Feb. 14

Saratoga vs. Lusk

Ben Falk- 10 p, 6 r, 1 s, 2 a

John Brennan- 14 p, 4 r, 1 s, 1 a, 3 t

Cameron Collamer- 13 p, 6 r, 2 s, 2 a, 4 t

Braxton Schwartzkopf- 4 p, 4 r, 2 s, 2 a, 4 t

Ryan Malone- 9 p, 1 r, 1 a

Jace Berger- 2 p, 2 r, 1 a

Emmanuel Pattishall-Baker- 2 p, 5 r, 1 s, 1 t

Andrew Janecek-Oiler- 1 s, 1 t

Saturday, Feb. 15

Saratoga vs. Burns

Ben Falk- 2 p, 2 r, 1 s, 2 a, 3 t

John Brennan- 21 p, 3 r, 1 b, 6 s, 3 a, 9 t

Cameron Collamer- 6 p, 2 r, 4 a, 3 t

Braxton Schwartzkopf- 15 p, 5 r, 2 b, 2 s,

Andrew Janecek-Oiler- 3 p, 2 r, 2 t

Ryan Malone- 2 p, 2 r, 3 a, 1 t

Emmanuel Pattishall-Baker- 17 p, 12 r, 1 b, 4 a, 3 t