Officiating whistles were working overtime in a very physical bi-district match-up between the Alba-Golden Panthers and the Clarksville Tigers in Pittsburg last Tuesday. Clarksville ended the Panthers’ season with a 46-32 win.

An extremely quick Clarksville side opened the game by creating a frenzy of turnovers by Alba-Golden. The Tigers, however, could not convert on most of those opportunities, as the Panthers were ready to play some close-out defense of their own. 

Alba-Golden’s game plan worked well in the early going – they collapsed and helped when the ball went inside, and they pressured the Tiger point guard just enough to alter the Tiger offensive attack. 

Despite a handful of turnovers in the opening quarter, after one quarter of play the score stood 9-5, Clarksville. Alba-Golden had to be encouraged by the initial passage of play. 

Clarksville began to exert more pressure at both ends of the court in the second quarter. Alba-Golden was able to generate open looks at the basket, but their passing was an instant too late, often allowing the Tigers to get a hand on the ball. 

Clarksville outscored Alba-Golden by five in that second quarter and went into halftime leading 20-11.

Struggles at the line torpedoed Alba-Golden all night. In the first half they were 5 of 15 free throws. On the night they were 9 of 24, (37%). The game would have been fundamentally altered had the Panthers been able to convert from the free throw line.    

The Panthers came out after halftime looking confident. Braylon Moffett hit a 3-pointer from the corner and Conner Gibson scored with a great touch on a one-handed push shot from the lane. In a flash, Alba-Golden had closed the deficit to four points.   

The Panthers shooting hand went cold, however, in the third quarter while Clarksville ended the quarter on a 7-point run. At the quarter break the score stood 32-19, Tigers.

Alba-Golden geared up for a fourth-quarter push. The Panthers carried the action early in the final period. Gibson hit Payton Dickinson on a long pass ahead for a bucket off the break, and Alba-Golden began to sink a few free throws.     

Midway through the fourth, Gibson hit back-to-back 3-pointers near the top of the key, and Alba-Golden had closed the score to 34-28. 

Clarksville simply would not let Alba-Golden back into the game. They converted a 3-point play with an offensive rebound put-back on the next trip down the court and subsequently forced an Alba-Golden turnover in the forecourt. 

The Panthers were able to close again to within eight points with 2:30 on the clock, but they could not turn back the Tigers.