It was a good run, but the River Valley Panthers unfortunately witnessed the end of their six-game winning streak on Tuesday. They fell 53-42 to Penns Manor. The loss was a bit of a surprise, as River Valley came into the match with a sizable advantage in MaxPreps' Pennsylvania basketball rankings (they are ranked 279th, while the Comets are ranked 597th).
River Valley lost despite a true team effort on the offense, the best among them being Jeremy Reed, who scored 13 points along with five rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Reed has scored all season. Dom Speal was another key contributor, scoring five points along with three steals.
Penns Manor was led to victory by Alex Polenik and Carter Smith. Polenik scored 15 points along with six rebounds, while Smith scored 22 points along with eight rebounds. Another player making a difference was Amin Lieb, who scored four points along with ten rebounds and six steals.
River Valley's loss ended a five-game streak of away wins and brought them to 14-6. As for Penns Manor, their win ended a three-game drought at home and bumped them up to 7-14.
River Valley will take on the Stingers at 7:15 p.m. on Thursday. Hopefully Marion Center focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 12 on Tuesday. As for Penns Manor, they and the Wolves will face off at 7:15 p.m. on February 1st without much rest after finishing up games yesterday.
