Panthers Take Early Hit at Rumble
One of New York's elite, the New York Panthers, took an early loss on the first day of the Rumble in the Bronx AAU tournament on Friday, June 13.
They were defeated by the Gold Coast 54-50 at the Manhattan College site.
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The Panthers are the number four ranked team in the city, and feature the number two and number five ranked players in the city with Omari Lawrence and Kevin Parrom. Parrom was the leading scorer for the Panthers with 18 points, but it wasn't enough to take down Gold Coast.
Gold Coast maintained the lead from the beginning of the game, and rarely let it go. In the first half Gold Coast proved the more dominant. The Panthers made several runs and took the lead, 22-21, with more than 4 minutes in the half. However the Coast quickly took the lead back with the Panthers on their heels, only down by one at halftime at 26-27.
The Panthers came out of the half with a new aggression. They were able to force several turnovers and gain some fast-break points. They quickly took the lead, but were only able to maintain it for a few minutes.
Gold Coast used its excellent ball movement to regain the lead. A very unselfish team, they would never rush a shot and often made the extra pass to find the open man. The Coast's points were well shared across the board. Their leading scorer was Charles Hankerson who had 13 points.
The Panthers had an opportunity to win late in the game. They were down two with more than a minute left on the clock. They had many fouls to give so they let the clock run down to about 30 seconds. They then continued to foul but were using precious time in the attempt.
By the 10 second mark they were able to get within one point and got a possession under their own hoop. However they turned the ball over after the second attempted pass from in-bounding. The Coast made sure to hit there freethrows from there on to seal the game.
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