Story by I70sports.com’s Seth Whitehead–
North Mac opened the game on an 11-0 run and never took its foot off the gas the rest of the way, rolling to a surprisingly lopsided 72-41 win over the Vandalia boys basketball team Friday.
The Panthers (10-13) drilled 14 3-pointers and played stifling interior defense all night, leaving the Vandals (10-15) stunned and visibly discouraged pretty much from the opening four minutes on.
Keegan Geff led North Mac’s three-point barrage with five trifectas and a game-high 23 points, while 6-foot-6 post presence JT Alexander was a defensive force in the paint all night, blocking three shots alone in the first two minutes of the second half in a sequence that encapsulated Vandalia’s frustration on the night.
The Vandals cut North Mac’s early 11-0 lead to six points on an Isaac Sachan 3-pointer to start the second quarter, but they would get no closer than that the rest of the way. The Panthers scored the final nine points of the first half to take a 38-18 advantage into the locker room, and then proceeded to extend the run to 17 unanswered points by scoring the first eight points of the second half to blow the game wide open.
The Vandals committed just 10 turnovers but couldn’t counter North Mac’s lights-out shooting, hitting just 34 percent of its field goal attempts on the night.
The Vandals will look to get back on track on Tuesday when they host Piasa Southwestern in another South Central Conference tilt.
Vandalia Individual Stats
Tanner Robbins — 15 points, 5 rebounds
Isaac Sachan — 5 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists
Brady Elder — 5 points, 2 rebounds
Ian Whitehead — 4 points, 1 rebound
Jameson Younker — 3 points
Qwentyn Stombaugh — 3 points, 2 rebounds
Wade Brannon — 2 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists
Kohner Depew — 2 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist
Lucas Bowers — 1 point, 1 assist
Andrew Casey — 3 rebounds, 1 assist
