The Birch Run Panthers came out strong in the first half to take a 15 point (33-18) lead into halftime, but Mt. Morris edged back to pull within 8 points (40-48) by the end of the third quarter, and both teams had 61 points at the end of regulation to force an overtime. Overtime was hard fought as was the game, but Mt.Morris had the advantage at the free-throw line- hitting 18 of 32, while Birch Run shot 9 for 19 for the night from the charity stripe. We had too many turnovers tonight and our defense dropped off in the second half. We played hard, but we have to make better decisions, and keep working to improve our overall game.

Gage Martinus led the Panthers with 18 points and  8 rebounds.  Keegan Hale had a team-high 6 steals and grabbed 6 rebounds. Wyatt Stevens dished out 5 assists and had 6 rebounds. Jaxon Martinus also dished out 5 assists. Trent Dalak led the team with 7 deflections.

Gage Martinus- 18 pts, 8 reb, 1 ast, 3 stl, 6 defl. 1 blk

Connor Mausolf- 13 pts, 4 reb, 2 stl, 5 defl

Jaxon Martinus- 11 pts, 3 reb, 5 ast, 2 stl, 3 defl, 1 blk

Christian Stebner- 9 pts, 4 reb, 1 stl, 1 defl

Wyatt Stevens- 5 pts, 6 reb, 5 ast

Keegan Hale- 5 pts, 6 reb, 3 ast, 6 stl, 1 defl

Trent Dalak- 4 pts, 3 reb, 7 defl, 1 blk

Carter Licht- 2 pts, 1 stl

Karter Knight- 1 reb

Colton Elliott- 2 defl