Birch Run Varsity Boys put out a great effort Friday on Senior Night but came up a little short, losing 38-49 to Essexville Garber. However, the final score did not indicate how close and competitive the game really was.The Panthers trailed by 7 points at the end of the first quarter; the Dukes held the same 7 point edge at halftime (16-23) and increased it by 2 points by the end of the third (26-35). With 7 minutes remaining in the fourth, we had fought back to pull within 4 points (31-35), we trailed by 5 points at the 4 minute mark, and @  2 :31 the score was 38-40. In the final minutes, we missed our shots, had to foul, and Garber made their free throws to pull out the win. It was nice to see the team play hard, be competitive, and have fun doing it even though we didn't get the win. Jaxon Martinus paced the Panthers with 12 points, and Gage Martinus grabbed a team-high 9 rebounds. Our final regular season game will be @ Durand 7:00 PM Tuesday, Feb. 28th.

Jaxon Martinus- 12 pts, 2 reb, 1 ast, 3 defl

Chase Stewart- 7 pts, 4 reb

Mason Mellott- 5 pts, 3 reb, 1 blk

Gage Martinus- 4 pts, 9 reb, 1 stl

Connor Mausolf- 2 pts, 4 reb, 1 defl

Randy Lenhart- 2 pts, 2 reb, 2 defl, 1 blk

Keegan Hale- 2 pts, 2 ast, 1 stl, 2 defl, 1 blk

Colton Elliott- 2 pts, 1 defl

Trent Dalak- 2 pts

Nolan Cherry- 1 reb, 1 blk