Boys’ BB: Panther Valley staves off Marian in OT

Panther Valley graduate Stephen Hood holds up a banner honoring both himself and Chase Weaver for joining the 1,000-point club last season (Photo by PV Sports).

SUMMIT HILL – A pair of heavy-duty rivals took the lid off the 2024-25 basketball season Friday evening.

There is no love lost between Panther Valley and Marian.

Heck, the Colts played the role to the hilt; sporting all black uniforms – ala Duke University. It led their head coach Scott Murphy to quip, “We’re looked at like Darth Vader, why not dress the part?”

It was a grind, as usual, it took one overtime before Panther Valley swung the door open in a rush to knock down the Colts 64-56 in a non-league meeting.

For sure, these two teams have things to rework and it is a long season. Right now, Panther Valley has found a way to score in the paint and a floor general who will make sure that the ball is distributed often.

It helps that this team has a pair of widebodies — 6-foot-2 Logan Fisher and 6-4 Danny Wehr used their muscle to combine for 37 points — and Connor Penberth knocked down 21 points. Fisher led the gang with 26, Wehr poured in 12 and they both had a huge night inside rebounding to turn the tables on Marian, especially in the second half.

Marian forged a 28-24 halftime lead. If Jake Tom (7) wasn’t cashing in, there was Danny Catone and Justin De La Cruz, the team’s leading scorer on the night with 10 points, doing their share of damage.

Pat Crampsie’s Panther Valley club wasn’t buying into the deficit. They turned the tables with some gritty play over the third and fourth quarters to erase any doubts that the Panthers weren’t ceding. Fisher found his groove, burying nine points in a third-quarter rally they helped his team outscore Marian 16-7 to surge in front 40-34. It also helped when Penberth began to take matters into his hand with 10 second-half points.

“He’s our floor general and has really been a big leader for us early in the (preseason),” Crampsie said of Penberth. “The building was full of energy the entire game. I thought we got a great effort from Danny (Wehr) and Logan (Fisher) in that second half. They really asserted themselves, especially the way they rebounded.”

What really uplifted the Panthers came over the final 2:52 of the third quarter. Marian had just moved in front 34-31 on a Yaniel Nunez basket. Fisher then stood tall, muscling inside for a three-point play to tie things. A minute later Penberth pulled up for a deuce in the paint. A player technical foul shot made it 37-34, then Brady Jones lowered the boom with a corner trey.

“That was such a huge shot. It gave us a lot of confidence,” Crampsie said.

Marian quickly dug in and found its swagger, gathering a boost of much-needed momentum, Its defense led by Noel Matos put the clamps on the Panthers, forcing them into six errors.

Four foul shots by Penberth gave Panther Valley a 53-50 lead with 1:51 to play. However, Marian quickly regrouped behind Justin De La Cruz and Catone to tie things and force the extra session.

In overtime, Wehr sank a bucket inside, Fisher hit a foul shot, muscled his way for another bucket, before Wehr sank two more fouls and suddenly the curtain was dropping on Marian’s hopes. Panther Valley owned the overtime and finally put this game on the front burner for a season opening win.

“You know there was so many swings of emotion as much as scoring, but I’m just glad the way we hung in there. I was happy the way we reacted after not playing very well in the first half,” Crampsie said. “It’s good to get things right to start the season … it’s long one and we have a long way to go.”

QUOTABLE I … “We wear this 2.9 on the back of this hoodie. That’s how many points we have returning,” said Murphy, explaining how raw his squad is this season.

QUOTABLE II … “We figured they’d roll guys in and out and I liked how we responded,” Crampsie said on Marian’s depth that featured 10 different players who saw considerable action.

ROLLING ‘EM IN … And out; Murphy had five players coming in off the bench in a wave of substitutes ala hockey line change.

FOULED UP … Panther Valley shot a whopping 39 foul shots, making 21. Marian had but 7 and made 4.

COLTS SPLIT … Marian scored a 48-45 win in the junior varsity game, led by Chase McArdle’s 13 points, Tyler Kall 10 and Edison Mitchell 8. PV was led by Brandon Osoria with 15.

HONORED … A trio of graduated Panthers had their names hoisted with a new banner for scoring 1,000 career points: Stephen Hood (1,123), Chase Weaver (1,076) and Maddison Maynard (1,509).

MARIAN (56) — Jus. De La Cruz 4 0-0 10, Nunez 3 0-0 7, Ferreira 3 0-0 7, Tom 3 0-0 7, Catone 2 2-5 6, Griguoli 2 0-0 6, Matos 2 2-2 6, Rodino 2 0-0 4, Tirpak 1 0-0 3, Jac. De La Cruz 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 4-7 56.

PANTHER VALLEY (64) — Fisher 10 6-11 26, Penberth 5 11-21 21, Wehr 5 2-3 12, Jones 1 1-2 4, Neziri 0 1-2 1, Boneravage 0 0-0 0, Krynock 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 21-39 64.

Mar (0-1) ….  12 16 7 19 2 – 56

PV (1-0) …… 10 14 16 14 10 – 64

3-point FGs: Jus. De La Cruz 2, Nunez, Ferreira, Tom, Griguoli 2, Tirpak, Jones