By John Haile
BETHANY– In a game that saw dunks, a blown lead and vomiting players, the Pond Creek-Hunter Panthers were able to find the necessary pieces to pull away with a win against the New Lima Falcons, 71-68, in the Sawyer Center. The Panthers advance to the Class A State Semifinals in the 4:30 game on Friday at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds.
Pond Creek-Hunter was led by junior guard Cole Jones. Jones ended the afternoon with 33 points making 21 of those from beyond the arc. Behind Jones was Kade Tracy who scored 16 points with 14 coming in the third quarter.
This was far from a pretty game. New Lima had the Panthers right where they wanted them for the majority of regulation. The Falcons led by as many as 12 and seemed to be making all the shots from the field. Leading the Falcons on the scoreboard was Mekhi Edwards who ended the game with 22 points.
It was a tale of two games for the Panthers. The first three pointer of the game came midway through the second quarter. Jones and Tracy fixed that problem by hitting seven from downtown in the third, including a buzzer beater by Tracy to give PCH its first lead of the game since early in the first.
Both teams played perhaps their best basketball of the year in fourth quarter. In the final eight minutes, the game saw four ties and five lead changes. The game was forced to a halt with about two and half minutes to go as Cole Jones became ill and vomited on the floor. PCH’s own Jevan Overton had an opportunity to put the game away with a free throw attempt to put the Panthers up by four with just seconds left.
New Lima ends the season with a 28-3 record and a No. 4 ranking. No. 3 Pond Creek-Hunter improves to a 25-1 record.
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | |
| PCHHS | 15 | 26 | 53 | 71 |
| NLHS | 18 | 34 | 52 | 68 |
Pond Creek-Hunter: Cole Jones 33, Kade Tracy 16, Jevan Overton 15, Trey Howard 5, Blake Rayner 2.
New Lima: Mekhi Edwards 22, Micah Lena 14, Landon Madkins 12, K.C. Bryan 9, Adrian Daniels 6, Logan George 5.