The Panther Valley Panthers and Marian Catholic will round out the year against one another at at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday. Panther Valley is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 50.9 points per game this season.
Panther Valley is headed into the match out to prove that what happened against Minersville last Thursday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Panther Valley was outmatched by Minersville and fell 54-24. While losing is never fun, the Panthers can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Pennsylvania basketball rankings (they are ranked 226th, while the Battlin' Miners are ranked 73rd).
The losing side was boosted by Daniel Wehr, who posted 12 points.
Meanwhile, Marian Catholic had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 12.7 points) and they went ahead and made it four on Friday. They blew past MMI Preparatory School 58-28. That 30 point margin sets a new team best for Marian Catholic this season.
Marian Catholic's win came from a few key players Panther Valley will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Rocco Griguoli, who went 5 of 9 on his way to 10 points along with eight boards and five blocks. He has been hot, having posted eight or more boards the last seven times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Dominic Catrone, who went 5 of 7 on his way to 12 points.
Marian Catholic's win bumped their record up to 5-3. As for Panther Valley, their loss dropped their record down to 6-3.
Panther Valley was able to grind out a solid victory over Marian Catholic when the teams last played back in November, winning 64-56. The rematch might be a little tougher for Panther Valley since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
