Despite struggles, Panthers committed to continued improvement

Abram Sutherland / Pride of the Panthers

By JEREMY SCHNEIDER

IMA SPORTS

There are plenty of sayings about good results taking hard work and the importance of patience when building anything, but that doesn’t always comfort teams when they’re in the dog days of a rebuilding season.

The Maumee boys basketball team lost a pair of games last week, 61-43 at Bellevue and 63-48 to Lake, to fall to 3-9 overall and 1-5 in the Northern Buckeye Conference. The Panthers had lost five straight games.

“We are continuing to work hard and improve everyday,” Maumee coach T.J. GIllespie said. “We all feel we aren’t where we want to be, but we have a bright upside. We have been defending pretty well overall and we are really focused on improving our shooting percentages.”

Gillespie said his team is focused on putting together four complete quarters, and last week’s results back up his focus. In the loss at Bellevue, Maumee stumbled with a 35-20 scoring deficit in the second half, and in the loss to Lake, the Panthers were out-scored 39-21 in the second and third quarters.

“We’ve shown in spurts how good of a team we can be,” Gillespie said. “We have to excel at the small things and lock in to the details.”

There were definite bright spots last week. Senior Mike Kiss had 16 points on 8-of-9 shooting against Bellevue, adding seven rebounds. Ben Kubicz added nine points, three assists and three steals, and Eli Dodson had seven points.

Dodson led the way with 11 points against the Flyers, with Will Kubicz chipping in nine points and Abram Sutherland eight points and five boards.

Sutherland has led a solid group of bench players, with Gillespie going as many as 10 players deep in a game. Last week, Panthers bench players totaled 21 points and 16 rebounds.

“Our bench has been giving us very quality minutes,” Gillespie said. “I am 100 percent confident in those guys. We have a majority of sophomores and juniors, which is great for our future. They will continue to learn and improve.”

With nine games left in the regular season, there’s still plenty of time for the Panthers to prove their work and improvements on the court.

”It’s a daily process, and as a staff, we continue to stay consistent with our messages and we are getting better,” Gillespie said.

Photo courtesy of Pride of the Panthers

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