The Paw Paw Pirates entered their tilt with the Shanksville Stonycreek Vikings with two consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with three. Paw Paw sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 48-46 win over the Vikings on Saturday. Given Paw Paw's advantage in MaxPreps's basketball rankings in their respective home states (they are ranked 59th in West Virginia, while the Vikings are ranked 599th in Pennsylvania), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Paw Paw to victory, but perhaps none more so than Donavan Tanouye, who scored 18 points along with six rebounds and four steals. Tanouye has been hot recently, having posted three or more steals the last ten times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Taylor Carder, who scored 13 points along with six rebounds and two steals.
Shanksville Stonycreek's defeat came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Braxton Faidley, who almost dropped a double-double on 12 points and nine rebounds. Braxton Newman was another key contributor, scoring ten points along with eight rebounds.
Paw Paw pushed their record up to 11-5 with that win, which was their fourth straight at home. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 61.5 points per game. As for Shanksville Stonycreek, they are on a three-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 7-7.
Both teams will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Paw Paw will challenge the Panthers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. As for Shanksville Stonycreek, they will head out on the road to face off against the Rockets at 7:00 p.m. on Monday. Hopefully Rockwood focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 17 on Friday.
