The Pinckneyville Panthers pushed their score all the way to 61 on Saturday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They took a 66-61 hit to the loss column at the hands of Mt. Vernon.
Navontae Nesbit Jr. continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines for Mt. Vernon, scoring 29 points along with eight assists. The matchup was Nesbit Jr.'s eighth in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Cale Maurer, who scored 11 points along with five rebounds and three blocks.
Pinckneyville's loss dropped their record down to 8-2. As for Mt. Vernon, the victory (which was their third in a row) raised their record to 7-2.
Both teams are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. Pinckneyville will be home for the holidays to greet Gibault Catholic at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. Gibault Catholic will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Illinois Rankings (they are ranked 423rd, while Pinckneyville is ranked 41st). Mt. Vernon and Marion will face off at 7:30 p.m. on December 19th without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. Marion is looking to tack on another W to their three-game streak on the road.