This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
Baldwin's SJ Hossler gets set to go up for an uncontested shot against Pentwater on Thursday.
Pioneer photo/John Raffel
BALDWIN – It could have been a preview of next Friday’s (March 10) Division 4 boys basketball district title game at Baldwin against Pentwater.
The two teams met on Thursday (March 2) in the regular season finale at Baldwin with the Panthers improving to 20-1 with a 73-61 win over Pentwater (10-12).
Carmelo Lindsey had another big night with 21 points, followed by SJ Hossler with 15, Louie Jackson with seven and Chance Dockery and Javon Hawkins with six apiece.
Baldwin finished the league season at 17-0. The Panthers are currently ranked third in the state at 20-1 by the Associated Press.
Will Werkema-Grondsma had 31 points for the Falcons and the rest of the team totaled 30 points.
“We played OK,” junior David Lee said. “The second half it kind of slowed down but we kept the pace up enough to win.”
Baldwin trailed 14-7 in the first quarter but went on a 12-0 run to make it 19-14 after the first quarter. The run extended to 8-0 to open the second quarter.
It was 43-26 at halftime. The Panther kept the offensive pressure on in the second. Lindsey and Javon Hawkins both hit threes in the first and Jackson made contributions on both ends of the court. It was 60-40 going into the fourth.
Hossler had a backcourt steal and basket, followed by a bucket from Jackson to give Baldwin an early 64-40 lead in the fourth.
“We got off to a slow start and I kind of had the feeling that might happen,” Baldwin coach JJ Eads said. “The kids responded. We went on a run and it was a pretty even game after that. Overall, I think we did pretty well.
“There are some things we have to work on. There’s a good chance we may see them in eight days. We have to take care of business.”
“I thought I could have done better with shooting more and getting to the boards,” Hawkins said. “But I felt we came out knowing what we’re supposed to do.
Eads said the second quarter was one of his team’s best periods of the year.
“The second half was all right, but I think they had a lot of things on their mind with senior night,” he said.
The Panthers have two seniors with Lindsey and Konnor Gorman.
The Panthers were set to play Mason County-Eastern on Wednesday (March 8) in a district semifinal game at Baldwin.
