Panthers pack pigtail punch, secure regionals

With a 73-64 Monday victory over Southeast's Cyclones, the Panthers are now officially headed to regionals.

When the Saratoga boys learned they were scheduled for a home pigtail game against Southeast, they knew it was do or die. A win meant the Panthers were headed to regionals, while a loss meant their 2013-14 varsity basketball season was over for good.

After the first quarter in Monday's game ended 17-8-thanks to a three-point buzzer shot from Braxton Schwartzkopf-there was a sense that the Panthers had the game in the bag. Saratoga kept the lead throughout most of the game, ending the first half 33-23 and the third quarter 56-36.

The fourth quarter, however, is when the Cyclones stepped up their game and came close to catching up, but the Panthers kept pushing ahead, eventually winning 73-64. The win was another great addition to the Panthers' season record, going together nicely with their 67-31 win over Hanna-Elk Mountain-Medicine Bow Friday.

Head coach Josh Sandlian said he was expecting not only a win for his boys, but also a very good game from the Cyclones.

"Southeast is a good team, and if you don't lock their shooters and find them or give them a little bit of space, they will knock down shots," he said. "We did a pretty good job today at finding them and making sure we were on them, but they're a really good team. This is the sixth time we've played Southeast in the last calendar year, and you have to know where their shooters are and take care of business, then box out. You have to execute on the other end, and we did that today."

Sandlian said he was also impressed with the number of shots aced in their final game before regionals.

"We were 50 percent for two-pointers, 50 percent for three-pointers and 75 percent from the free-throw line," he said. "We did what we needed to do and we had more assists than turnovers, so things went our way. We definitely have stuff to work on for Thursday, but today was a good game."

The game saw several scorers on Saratoga's end, including four players who scored 10 points or more. Those top four included John Brennan (20), Ryan Malone (18), Braxton Schwartzkopf (17) and Cameron Collamer (10).

Schwartzkopf's 17-point total included four three-pointers, while other scorers included Ben Falk, who scored eight points, and Jace Berger, who scored two.

Sandlian said he was pleased to see so many players hit the boards, and looks forward to what his boys can do at regionals.

"There were a lot of guys who got in on the action," he said. "Now we just get to go play now that we're 'there', and even though we've got stuff to work on, we can just go play. You get to start fresh, and now we're brand new at 0-0. We had a great past season, with 13-11 right now, and we've scored the most points we have this year over any other year."

Looking back, Sandlian said his boys played as a team over the season and hopes they can keep that momentum during regionals. He said they'll be a force to be reckoned this weekend.

"Some people may think we'll be the upset, but these kids are good enough to compete with anybody they step onto the floor with," Sandlian said.

For their first game at regionals, the Panthers play Big Horn at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow at Storey Gym in Cheyenne. The regional tournament takes place Thursday, Friday and Saturday.