Cowboys hand Panthers second straight loss, 66-47

Unable to overcome an early 16-point deficit, the Concordia Panthers suffered a 66-47 North Central Kansas League loss to Abilene Friday night in the Concordia Junior-Senior High School gymnasium.
Abilene, knocking down four three-point shots, bolted to a 20-4 lead on Concordia.
The Panthers battled back to within seven points midway through the second quarter.
Abilene closed the first half with a 10-2 run to go up 39-24.
Concordia could get no closer than 14 points in the second half in dropping a second consecutive game.
The Panthers, now 3-2 overall and 0-2 in league play, will play its final game prior to semester break at Clay Center on Tuesday night.
“Tuesday is a big game for us. We need to bounce back and go into break at 4-2 with a victory,” Concordia coach Derek Holmes said. “The last couple of games, obviously we have lost to great teams, we haven’t carried over what we worked on in practice to the game. We need to start doing that.”
Abilene, which snapped a two-game losing skid, scored the first 12 points of the game.
Concordia missed on its first six field goal attempts before 6-7 junior Jonathan Turner scored with 3:43 to play in the first quarter.
Turner came off the bench and scored 11 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
“That is the best varsity game that I have seen him play,” Holmes said of Turner. “He really stepped up, 11 points, 11 rebounds. We need for him to continue to do that. He was really good.”
Abilene got a layup by Triston Cottone and Turner made two free throws for Concordia, and it was a 14-4 game.
Back-to-back threes by Cameron Vinduska pushed Abilene’s lead to 20-4.
Aceyn Cash scored the final five points of the first quarter to pull Concordia within 11 points, 20-9.
Cash finished with 10 points.
A three-point basket by Keaton Hargrave in the final seconds of the first period gave the Cowboys a 23-9 cushion.
Abilene scored the first two points of the second quarter, and led 25-9.
Concordia got a pair of three-point baskets by Peyton Retter and one by Cash during a 13-4 run that closed the gap to 29-22 midway through the second quarter.
Abilene answered with two free throws by Grant Waite, a baseline jumper by Zach Miller and a three by Hargrave to extend its lead to 36-22.
“We made a run and cut it to seven and then we turned the ball over five straight possessions,” Holmes said. “You can’t have 18 turnovers against the number seven team in 4A. You are going to struggle if you do that, and obviously we did.”
Alan Garcia, who led Concordia with 13 points, scored off an offensive rebound.
A three by Miller with time running out in the first half gave the Cowboys a 39-24 cushion.
Abilene outscored Concordia 11-6 in the first six minutes of the second half to open up a 50-30 advantage.
A baseline jumper by Lewis VanMeter and a three by Payton Breese as time expired in the third quarter left Concordia trailing 50-35.
The Panthers were unable to pull any closer than that 15-point deficit over the final eight minutes.
Concordia shot 43 percent (17 of 40) from the field and was 5 of 15 from three-point range for 33 percent.
“We didn’t shoot it as well as we had been. And when you don’t shoot it very well that magnifies your problems,” Holmes said.
Abilene had four players score in double figures, led by Waite and Hargrave with 15 points each.
Stockton Timbrook scored 14 points for the Cowboys and Vinduska chipped in 10 points.

ABILENE (66)
Waite 6-2-2 15, Hargrave 6-03 15, Cottone 31-3 7, Beyer 0-0-3 0, Miller 2-0-1 5, Timbrook 3-6-2 14, Vinduska 4-0-0 10. Totals: 24-9-13 6.
CONCORDIA (47)
Henderson 0-0-4 0, VanMeter 1-0-0 2, Garcia 5-3-1 13, Retter 3-0-2 8, Cash 3-2-1 10, Breese 1-0-0 3, Turner 4-3-1 11. Totals: 17-8-9 47.