BATTLE CREEK — For the second season in a row, Pennfield earned the right to celebrate a league title by cutting down the net.
Pennfield defeated Hastings 48-46 to clinch a share of the Interstate 8 Conference title in high school boys basketball action at Pennfield High School on Friday, Feb. 13.
MORE: Friday night boys/girls basketball results from Battle Creek area
Here are the Enquirer’s 3 Takeaways from the game.
Back-to-back champs
After the final buzzer, Pennfield brought out the ladder and the scissors and the Panthers cut down the net in their home gym to celebrate its second straight Interstate 8 Conference championship in front of their fans and family.
With the win over Hastings, Pennfield improved to 10-1 in league play and has a one game lead on second-place Marshall with the Panthers having one conference game left to play. Pennfield can win the title outright with a win at home against Jackson Northwest on Tuesday, or if Marshall loses either of its final two league games (vs. Hastings, Harper Creek).
Pennfield shared the Interstate 8 Conference title last year with Marshall and Harper Creek.
“It’s a great feeling,” Pennfield coach Robbie Hattan said. “We set our goals that we wanted to be back-to-back. We still got a chance to win this thing outright, but we cut down the nets tonight, because once you share it, you still have a piece of it. It’s a big deal for us here at Pennfield. First time in history that we are back-to-back I-8 champs.
‘Gritty win’
Hastings (5-12) came into the game near the bottom of the Interstate 8 Conference with only two league wins. But the Saxons pushed Pennfield to the edge, looking to spoil the Panthers’ championship plans.
Hastings led throughout much of the first half and took a 25-17 advantage into intermission.
Pennfield rallied in the third quarter and the Panthers’ Calvin Paesens hit a 3-pointer with :02 left in the period to give Pennfield its first lead since the first quarter at 33-32.
Pennfield added from there and went on a 10-0 run as a Johnny Lake layup gave the Panthers a 40-32 lead with 3:07 remaining.
That’s when Hastings started fouling Pennfield to see if the Saxons could get back in the game based on the Panthers’ recent free throw shooting woes.
In the last 2:16 of regulation, Pennfield went 10-for-22 from the line as Hastings cut the lead to three points at 46-43 with :12 remaining. Dre’Shaun Bailey and Paesens each split a pair of free throws in the final 10 seconds to hold the Saxons off.
For the game, Pennfield went 14-for-34 from the line.
“I don’t know what it is with our free throw shooting right now,,” Hattan said. “If anyone wants to know, we shoot free throws for about 25, 30 minutes every day. We shoot them tired, fresh, every which way can right now. We are shooting them great in practice. But we have to solve this thing about making them in games.
“But, overall, we were resilient. Just a gritty win.”
Lake led Pennfield with 13 points and 12 rebounds with Paesens adding 11 points, four assists and four rebounds and Bailey getting nine points and three steals. Peyton Merlington added 10 rebounds and four assists. Pennfield goes to 16-4 overall.
What they said …
Pennfield senior Calvin Paesens: “Feels great to win this. Great, that we could come back and win it again. Never thought we’d be here, to be honest. Freshman and sophomore year we were kinda down, but we just kept building as a team and now we are back-to-back.”
Bill Broderick can be reached at bbroderi@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow him on X/Twitter: @billbroderick
This article originally appeared on Battle Creek Enquirer: Pennfield boys basketball clinches back-to-back I-8 championships
Reporting by Bill Broderick, Battle Creek Enquirer / Battle Creek Enquirer
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