Sports
Maysville dominates MVL rival New Lexington in regional semifinals, one win away from final four
By: Joshua Jacob
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — The Maysville Panthers and the New Lexington Panthers met at the Convocation Center for their regional semifinal matchup. It was a runaway game for the Maysville Panthers, as they took the game 74-44.
The last two times these teams met, Maysville emerged victorious. However, all the cards were on the table, and no secrets were being kept. These teams knew everything about each other, and this one would go to the better team.
To start, Maysville was able to dominate the glass, with its first three scores being second-chance points.
Maysville could get anything it wanted on the inside, scoring practically every time they drove to the baseline. This was due in large part to Gator Nichols.
Any time he touched the ball, he was a scoring threat. This made sense; they were shooting 60% from the field as a team at the end of the first quarter.
New Lexington got it done behind the arc, shooting 66% from three, however, they couldn’t space the floor on the inside, leading them to be in a deficit, trailing in the first quarter, 23-12.
Maysville locked down on defense in the second quarter, making a new Lex fight for every inch of separation.
It also hurt that New Lex Struggled to finish out plays. They would tip the ball in efforts of a steal but couldn’t secure it, leaving someone on the opposing team wide open for the score.
This aided Maysville’s efficiency, as they hit 50% from three. Nichols led the way for Maysville, ending the half with 16 points, putting them up 40 to 17.
In the third, Maysville had all the momentum and could stretch the lead, forcing the new Lexington to play their brand of basketball.
Maysville’s had their spacing down and kept their passing crisp, making the kick out deadly. This kept New Lexington jumpy and susceptible to leaving someone open. Maysville also stayed efficient, hitting 58% from the field and the third.
Nichols slowed down in scoring but started to add assists, getting his whole team involved.
At the end of the third, Maysville was closing in on the running clock, up 50-25
Shortly into the fourth, Maysville got a running clock, making the clock hit midnight for New Lexington’s Cinderella run.
Head coach Dave Brown said, “If you wanna win, in March, you gotta play great half-court defense, and I thought we were really good defensively for 32 minutes, and we got a tough opponent coming up in River Valley. You know they’re really good physical strong, and we played them a couple of times this summer. They got a really good squad, so We’re gonna have our hands full.”
The Maysville Panthers will return to the Convocation Center on Sunday at 2 p.m. to face the River Valley Vikings for the regional final.