By ANDREW FEEBACK
The Southern Wells Raiders nearly saw their 18-point lead disappear Tuesday night against the visiting Elwood Panthers, but weathered the storm and came away with a 47-40 win.
Led by 17 points from Chandler Oswalt and 12 from Evan Pennington, the Raiders (6-11) used the three-point shot to jump out to an early lead and seemed to have the Panthers (7-13) flummoxed on their offensive end.
“I thought the entire night, we played hard defensively,” Southern Wells head coach Joel Roush said. “We were pretty solid there. We lost a few block-outs and gave up some offensive rebounds, but our defense kept us ahead in the game.”
He continued, “Offense will come and go, but you can always play well defensively.”
Four different Raiders hit from beyond the arc in the first half. Pennington and Oswalt both made two, while Andrew Aker and CJ Reber each made one. For the game, the Raiders made 7-11 from deep.
Oswalt’s third triple had the Raiders up 30-17, and they scored the next five points to take their largest lead of the night.
They were still ahead 39-24 as the third quarter came to a close, but the Panthers began to ramp up the pressure for the game’s final eight minutes.
Southern Wells failed to make a field goal for the entire quarter, and by making only half of their 14 free throw attempts, the Raiders saw their lead begin to evaporate.
Elwood cashed in on several of eight Southern Wells miscues in that span and drew within 39-31 on a three-pointer from Cam Gallegos with 5:40 to play.
Rebounding suddenly became a huge issue as well, with Elwood collecting 11 of its 32 rebounds in the fourth quarter, many of them on the offensive glass.
Due to the eight turnovers and 14 free throws, Southern Wells only attempted two shots from the floor.
“I thought we dribbled too much,” Roush said. “Part of pressing is they’re always going to trap, and that means two guys are guarding one, which means somebody’s open. I thought we dribbled against their press too much.”
Elwood pulled within 42-40 after Gallegos hit a corner three with 48 seconds left.
Perrin Gates made one of two free throws, and the Panthers had a chance to tie.
But Gates stole a pass near the free throw line and got fouled, again making one of two, but that put the Raiders up 44-40 with 19 seconds to play.
The Panthers’ Beau Brandon missed a three, Aker made a free throw, and following a Panther turnover, Oswalt made two more for the final margin.
Gallegos had 11 points for the Panthers while Jackson Blackford scored nine.
Southern Wells will host Woodlan Friday night.
The Raider junior varsity team lost a two-quarter game to Elwood, 35-23. Joshua Aulbach scored 11 points, Trey Slusher had seven and Landon Johnson added five.
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SOUTHERN WELLS 47,
ELWOOD 40
At Southern Wells
ELWOOD (7-13): Jayden Mullins 1-9 4-8 6, Xavier Davenport 2-11 0-0 4, Isaac Casas 0-0 0-0 0, Cam Gallegos 4-5 0-1 11, Beau Brandon 0-11 0-0 0, Jackson Blackford 4-9 1-2 9, Braden Etchison 0-1 0-0 0, James Ward 3-8 1-3 7, Corbin Leavell 1-2 0-0 3, Kaden Sullivan 0-0 0-0 0, Ethan Casas 0-0 0-0 0, Brice Shuler 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 15-56 6-14 40.
SOUTHERN WELLS (6-11): Trey Slusher 0-0 0-0 0, Landon Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Andrew Aker 2-2 2-4 8, Caleb Johnson 1-2 0-0 2, CJ Reber 1-3 0-2 3, Evan Pennington 5-7 1-1 12, Chandler Oswalt 4-9 6-6 17, Joshua Aulbach 0-0 0-0 0, Perrin Gates 1-3 3-6 5. TOTALS: 14-26 12-19 47.
Elwood 4 12 8 16 — 40
Southern Wells 10 15 14 8 — 47
Three-point Field Goals: Elwood 4-16 (Gallegos 3-4, Leavell 1-2, Brandon 0-5, Davenport 0-2, Blackford 0-1, Ward 0-1, Mullins 0-1), Southern Wells 7-11 (Oswalt 3-6, Aker 2-2, Pennington 1-2, Reber 1-1). Rebounds: Elwood 32 (Ward 13, Mullins 10, Brandon 3, Blackford 2, Etchison 1, Gallegos 1, Davenport 1, Shuler 1). Turnovers: Elwood 12, Southern Wells 18. Fouls: Elwood 17, Southern Wells 13. Fouled out: None. Technicals: None.
JV: Elwood 35, Southern Wells 23.
