Pana boys basketball can't pull enough positives in IHSA sectional loss

FLORA — The positives for Pana included a game-high 31 points from senior Brenden Schoonover and keeping Mount Carmel’s dangerous shooter, Gage Kennard, in check.

But Mount Carmel sophomore Blayne Sisson had a team-high 21 points — 14 in the first half — and Pana missed 10 free throws in a 67-56 loss in the Class 2A Flora Sectional semifinals on Wednesday.

Pana, the No. 1 seed in sub-sectional B, ends the season 29-4. No. 2 Mount Carmel (22-9) will face No. 1 Teutopolis in the sectional title game at 7 p.m. on Friday. The Wooden Shoes beat No. 2 Alton Marquette 41-33 on Tuesday.

"It was crazy,” Schoonover said. “I mean, we worked our butts off this game. But to lose by (11). We've worked our butts off. And we just really wanted this but fell short.”

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The Golden Aces kept making push after push. Mount Carmel took lead of 8-2, 13-5, 19-13 and 23-15 in the first half. But each time, Pana made a run of its own to get close. Mount Carmel closed out the half on a 6-2 run to open a 29-22 halftime lead.

Pana coach Adam Metzger said chasing the lead all night can drain a team.

“Oh, it does,” he said. “You get down early and got to battle back, got to battle back. It takes a lot out of you emotionally.

“I thought the play to end the second quarter and the play in the third quarter — both to make it from a five-point game to a seven-point game — those are huge plays.”

Metzger referred to Mount Carmel’s Gavin Smith’s halftime buzzer-beater and his layup off of a side out of bounds play with 3 seconds left to end the third.

Smith and Kennard each finished with 16 points.

Kennard is the Aces’ top 3-point shooter. Pana shadowed him all night and he only attempted one 3 — a miss. But in the fourth quarter, he was 10-for-10 at the free-throw line. The Aces were 17-of-23 at the line.

Sisson, a 6-foot-3 guard, was 10-of-19. In the second quarter, he made all four of his shots. He didn’t attempt from much outside the paint.

“The way (Pana was) defending Gage, we knew somebody else was going to have to step up tonight,” Aces’ coach Tyler Buss said. “Give a lot of credit to Blayne. He came ready to go, did a good job getting to the rim, finishing through contact. (Sisson) and Gavin Smith really kind of were the catalysts there as Gage, it was tough to get him going early.”

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Sisson said he felt Pana didn’t treat him as the threat he is.

“We expected them to follow Gage around,” Sisson said. “I mean Gage is usually our leading scorer. I don't mean to say this like, in a mean way, but I don't think they game-planned too well, because like, I get my buckets in the paint and they're playing off of me and I'm just going to go by somebody.

“So I think that helped us out a lot — getting me hot early.”

Metzger said the Pana scouting report definitely had Sisson highlights and vehemently denied that was the case.

“We knew who he was,” Metzger said. “He's a great athlete. We know that he's not going to shoot from the outside, but he's got great moves going to the basket. I thought he got going early and his confidence continued to grow.”

Pana’s Devon Peebles added 14 points.

The Panthers' loss was a damper on an otherwise joyous week at the school. Not only did the boys' team win just its second regional title since 2012, but the girls' basketball team qualified for the Class 2A state tournament with a 64-56 win over Carterville in the Vandalia Supersectional on Monday.

The girls (35-1) open the state tournament on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. against Quincy Notre Dame (27-3) in the semifinals at Redbird Arena on the Illinois State University campus in Normal.

Schoonover said he will be there.

"It's awesome," the Panthers' senior said about the excitement surrounding both teams at the school. "We had a pep rally (Wednesday) and the whole school gym was filled: the Catholic school kids were there, public school sixth, seventh and eighth (grades). Everybody you can imagine was at the school today, cheering us on.

"Our hometown, like they really want us to do good. And they really they really want us to do something and I can't wait to go watch the girls (Thursday), even though it was a tough loss tonight. I can't wait to go watch them tomorrow. We get a half day off school. We're going to be good."

Contact Ryan Mahan: 857-246-9756, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Pana vs. Mount Carmel: IHSA Class 2A sectional boys basketball