Hornets take out Panthers

The Penney High Hornets played the Caldwell County rival Polo Panthers in the first round of the Hamilton Tournament last week.

The Hornets out scored the Panthers 20-12 in the first quarter, 21-15 in the second, and blew the game wide open in the third by scoring 34 points to Polo's 8 on their way to an 85-41 victory.

The "Penney Press" continues to create a number of turnovers by their opponents, and often leads to some easy buckets. Latroy Harper led all scorers with 32 points, including four 3-pointers, and 17 coming in that big 3rd quarter. Latroy also led the Hornets with 7 steals, tied for the lead in assists with 6 and blocked shots with 2, and added 3 rebounds. Korby Ford was next with 13 points, including three shots beyond the arc, 4 assists and 1 steal. Andy Ernat came off the bench to have his best offensive game of the season, scoring 10 points, and grabbing 3 rebounds. Telly Harper led Hamilton with 8 rebounds, tied for the lead with 2 blocks, scored 7 points, stole the ball twice, and handed out 3 assists. Jaran Richman tied for the lead in assists with 6, stole the ball 5 times, scored 7 points including one 3-pointer, and snared 3 rebounds. Mason McFall made his only free throw attempt on his way to 7 points, stole the ball 4 times, dished out 4 assists, and rebounded the ball twice. Derek Dixon scored 4 points, assisted on 1 basket, and stole the ball one time. Ethan Green hit a 3 pointer for his only shot on the night, Wes Pratt scored 2 points, recorded 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, and 1 blocked shot, and Drake Brown secured 2 rebounds. For Polo, Jason Thompson scored 11 points, Parker Smith 10, Jesse Vaughn and James Fleener 6 each, Cole Bartlett 4, and Brandon Hubbard and Jared Robison with 2 apiece. Hubbard and Fleener both went 2 for 2 from the free throw line.

The Hornets made 8 of 12 shots from the charity stripe to the Panthers' 7 of 9. Penney High had only 7 turnovers in the contest with 27 assists, and 21 steals.