Stagnant Panther offense extends losing streak

Charles City's Tanner Grubbs (right) wrestles the ball away from Mathews' Jarius Monroe as teammate Christian Stewart (left) joins in the fray.

Andre' Jones photo

“We couldn’t buy a basket tonight. We can’t win games if we can’t score baskets.”

That comment summed up by Panthers’ head coach VaShaun Otey was a microcosm of Charles City’s performance in a 56-30 loss to the visiting Mathews’ Blue Devils Monday night.

The hosts weathered a storm from the Blue Devils early on. After Elijah Willis’ lay-in and Christian Williams three-pointer helped Mathews jump out to an 11-4 lead, back-to-back buckets by Panther forward Leo Charity cut the visitors’ advantage to three heading into quarter number two.

Two free throws by Charles City’s Justis Crawley kept the home team within four (18-14) midway through the second frame. But from there, the ball failed to find the bottom of the net for the hosts. Meanwhile, Mathews had six different players score in what amounted to a 14-1 run to close out the half with a 32-15 lead.

Exchanging baskets didn’t do any favors for the hosts. After Tanner Grubbs opened the scoring with a lay-in, Mathews would account for 15 of the next 17 points that appeared on the scoreboard. From the middle of the third quarter to the 6:46 mark of the fourth, Charles City missed 23 shots from the field and failed to get to the free throw line. The eight-minute drought ended after Crawley’s conventional three-point play. But by the time his score registered on the board, Charles City was down by 26 points (48-22). Mathews extended its lead to as large as 31 points before settling in with the 56-30 victory over the Panthers.

Despite a lack of production on the offensive end, Otey praised his team for their effort on the floor.

“We never gave up,” he said. “We have to keep grinding and responded well to Mathews’ attack early while we were in our man-to-man defense.

“We had a much needed talk among the team to clear the air before the game,” Otey continued. “That was what we needed and allowed others to step up on the court when they had the opportunity.”

Devonte Johnson’s six led Charles City, who fall to 1-10. Crawley scored five, while Charity and Kobie Trull each added four, Deandre’ Gardner tossed in three, while Juwuan Bowman, Steven Trull, Grubbs, and Christian Stewart each chipped in two.

Caleb Thomas’ 11 points led a balanced attack for Mathews in the victory.