Hot shooting lifts Cavs

COLDWATER - The home buckets were kind for Coldwater on Friday night.

The Cavaliers hit eight of their 11 3-pointers in the first half to build a lead against Parkway and snap a two-game losing skid with a 61-48 win over the Panthers in Midwest Athletic Conference play at the Palace.

Shooting-wise, both teams shot well. Parkway had a slight advantage in shooting percentage (47.2% to 45.8%).

But it came down to a mathematical fact: three is greater than two.

Coldwater was 11-of-28 from behind the arc. Parkway was 5-12.

"For whatever reason this season, we shoot the ball really well at home and opposite on the road," said Coldwater coach Will Hoskins. "We love this gym. We have soft rims and tonight they were hitting."

"They were hot on the threes. We didn't do a good job making them dribble," said Parkway coach Doug Hughes. "We talked about (Coldwater) getting (out of) rhythm. We have to get them uncomfortable. They had a lot of catch-and-shoot threes."

The Cavalier defense takes big credit, holding the Panthers' top two trey shooters - Bosten Korte and Eli Schumm with a combined 65 on the season - to 0-for-6 from behind the arc.

"Our big thing with Parkway tonight was no catch-and-shoot threes," said Hoskins. "They shoot a lot of them and a few guys are strictly threes shooters. We really tried to take that away."

The start of the game had the makings of a shootout with the lead changing on four straight possessions in the first four minutes of the opening quarter. Jacoby Triplett's layup with 1:40 to play in the quarter put the Panthers in front 11-9, but Zach Pohlman quickly gave the Cavaliers the 12-11 lead with a big 3-pointer from the corner. Landon Knapke followed with a trey of his own to make it 15-11, only to have Ethan Pond dial long distance with a trey to cut it to 15-14. In the final 10 seconds, Pohlman came up big again to give Coldwater an 18-14 lead.

Pohlman had the first five points for the Cavaliers in the second quarter with a deuce and trey to make it 23-16 with 6:45 to play in the half. Coldwater began to put some distance between itself and Parkway. After Parkway missed a shot on its next possession, Knapke went long again for a trey. Ninety seconds later, Knapke added another to make it 29-16 before Cohen Korte stopped the run with a trey, Coldwater build the lead to 34-23 at halftime.

The halftime break did little to cool down Coldwater as Jack Bruns got a bunny, followed by Nolan Mescher knocking down a 3-pointer, followed by Knapke hitting a 2-pointer followed by two free throws to make it 43-23 with 5:16 remaining in the quarter.

"Those shots don't fall, who knows how the game goes," said Hoskins. "They were clean looks. I tell them they have the green light. I see the work they put in."

The margin stayed between 17 and 22 points for the rest of the quarter as Coldwater led 52-30 heading into the final eight minutes. Parkway trimmed the margin back under 20 towards the end of the game as both Hoskins and Hughes cleared the benches.

"I was happy with the way we competed," said Hughes. "We had too many bad possessions defensively. Offensively, I didn't think we got into what we wanted when they went to the zone."

Knapke finished the night 5-of-9 from beyond the arc for a game-high 21 points. Pohlman came off the bench to score 11 with Nolan Mescher and Bruns each adding 10 points.

Pond had a strong night for Parkway, scoring 17 points. Cohen Korte added 14 points.

Both teams are at home tonight. Coldwater (8-7, 3-3 MAC) plays host to Bath and Parkway (5-11, 0-6 MAC) has its Hall of Fame Night with Fort Jennings traveling to Rockford.