By BENJAMIN HERROLD
The Monroe City Panthers (4-17, 0-7 CCC) lost 47-39 at home against Marion County on Feb. 23. ”We got behind early and had trouble finishing the rim,” said Assistant Coach Dustin Fox. ”When we sped them up in the second half, we had a good comeback to cut the lead to 3 at one point. Tanner Buckman did a good job leading the comeback, but we didn’t hit enough shots and take care of the ball enough down the stretch to pull out a victory.” Tanner Buckman had 12 and Aaron Peters had 9 for the evening.
In earlier action, the Panthers lost 92-34 at Macon on Feb. 19 in their last CCC game. Macon rolled to a 31-2 lead after the first quarter. Macon led 47-11 at halftime.
Monroe City closed out its season with a 54-25 loss at Wellsville on Feb. 25. The Panthers were down by 12 at halftime and came out flat in the second half. ”They were at home and you could tell they came ready to play and they took care of the ball well and took advantage of opportunities they had to score while we didn’t. Their zone defense frustrated our kids and we were not able to score enough points to stick around in the game,” Fox said. Tanner Buckman was high scorer with 8 points.