Taking a step back

IOTA -- Coming into Monday night’s contest with the Iota Bulldogs, the Pine Prairie Panthers were hoping to overcome the poor performance against Northwest High this past Friday night and regain some ever important footing in the chase to make the playoffs.
The Panthers, losers of two of their last three district contests, came in as the No. 33 team in the latest power ranking, one spot out of the top 32 that go on to the post-season.
A win over Iota would give Pine Prairie some much needed power points toward that goal. A loss, however would mean that the Panthers may drop far enough to keep them out of the playoff picture come next week, with only one game left on the regular season schedule.
Unfortunately, Pine Prairie could not overcome a lousy shooting night from the floor as they fell to the Bulldogs 83-66. With the loss, the Panthers are now 13-13 on the season and 5-8 in district competition. The Panthers will host Crowley High tonight in the final regular season game. Game time is set for 6 p.m.
The game began as even as could be, with Pine Prairie answering a 5-0 start for Iota with four straight points. It was at that point that the poor shooting of the Panthers allowed the Bulldogs to gain momentum on the offensive side of the floor.
From the six minute mark down to the last two minutes of the opening quarter, Iota torched the nets for 11 unanswered points. Pine Prairie tried to right the ship over the final two minutes, but could only come away with four more points. A Bulldog three-pointer at the buzzer gave Iota a 21-8 lead heading into the second period.
“I felt like we got off to a really bad start,” Pine Prairie head coach Mike Smith stated after the game. “But, that has how it has been all season for us. When you are always having to fight back, at some point it will come back to bite you. We can’t put ourself in those situations, especially when we are not shooting well to begin with. It forces us to take quick shots, and it gives them more possessions. It is harder to come back when you are down.”
The two teams exchanged baskets to start the next period, but the Bulldogs were able to extend their advantage to 16 points, 28-12, with a single free throw at the 5:37 mark. After playing man-to-man for the entire first quarter, the Panthers settled back into a zone mid-way through the second quarter.
Oddly enough, that change actually allowed Pine Prairie to create havoc with the Iota offense, creating turnovers and bad shots. The Panthers were able to take advantage of those miscues and began heating up on the offensive side of the floor.
With 3:45 remaining until half, Pine Prairie trailed 31-18. But, with the renewed life pulsing through their veins, the Panthers blasted out a 10-0 run, including a lay-up with only three seconds left on the clock to cut the lead down to three points, 31-28.
An unwise foul on a desperation shot from Iota as the horn sounded, allowed the Bulldogs to go to the line with no time left on the clock to shoot three free throw attempts. Thankfully for the Panthers, Iota was able to hit only one of the three tries, giving the Bulldogs a 32-28 lead as the teams headed into the locker room.
Any momentum gained in the final minutes of the second quarter was lost by Pine Prairie immediately after halftime. Iota gradually increased the lead and with 3:57 left to go in the period, the Bulldogs nailed their second shot from beyond the arc to go up by 11 points, 44-33.
The dead-eye shooting from Iota did not end there. Over the next 3:16 of the period, the Bulldogs knocked down two more three-point shots and closed out the quarter on a 10-4 run. The final points of the period came with no time on the clock, as Pine Prairie fouled, giving Iota the chance to hit two free-throws and own a 54-37 lead.
The Panthers made another comeback attempt in the early part of the final quarter, out scoring the Bulldogs 11-2 over the first 2:02. But, the Iota offense remained hot enough down the stretch to hold off any significant Pine Prairie run.
Isaiah Payne had 28 points to lead the Panthers, while JJ Sims chipped in 15 points.
“It is not impossible now for us to make the playoffs, but this loss sure makes it a whole lot harder,” said Smith. “Now we have to somehow find a way to beat Crowley on Thursday and hope that other factors go our way. It is just frustrating that we had the chance to pick up some much needed power points tonight and we did not get it done.”