Going into this season, Elder basketball wasn’t expecting much despite being District Champion last season. They started their season as expected, with a loss to Northridge where they shot 29% from inside the arc and 5% from the 3pt line. Following this abysmal appearance shooting wise they followed this game with a 46- 37 win over Turpin which was Elder’s coach Joe Shoenfeld’s 500th career win. Following their win over Turpin they lost to Western Hills 66-61 for the first time since the 1970’s. The Panthers started to build chemistry, and they kept maturing together as a team to move on into the season.
Start of conference play
The Panthers started to show some life as they strung together a series of wins which later led to an 11-game winning streak including wins over two of their divisional rivals. They started in conference play with wins over divisional rivals in Moeller and LaSalle. Going into the conference play they were concerned about their conference rivals starting off with Moeller. The Panther going into this game were looking at a team they were 0-3 against in their last three meetings. This game was a big deal for the Panthers season as they were riding high on momentum, going into the game on a 7-game winning streak.
In this game, the Panthers were very successful starting off strong from the first minute. They led almost the entire game until the final minutes. The Panthers had one person to thank for the strong start and that is shooting guard Dylan Palicki. Elder defeated the Moeller Crusaders by a score of 53-47 on January 14th ending their three game losing streak against Moeller. Following the Moeller game, they extended their winning streak by four games, making it 11 straight games heading into the game against another division rival St. Xavier. The Panthers, despite leading 20-19 at halftime lost to the Bombers by a score of 46-30.
Coming off their loss to X, the Panthers also had a slow start against Fairmont. But they saved the game by coming alive in the second half resulting in a win. They are heading into the second half of conference play with a matchup against Moeller on Friday. Leading into this game it is unknown to see how the Panthers will come out and play coming off a loss to St. X and a win over Fairmont.
Matchup preview
During this week heading into the game against Moeller, I was able to go and sit down with the star from the first game, shooting guard Dylan Palicki to discuss how the team is preparing for the matchup. Palicki stated, “It’s the same stuff that were going to do stuff we worked on is the same stuff that we are going to need to execute.” The Panthers are preparing to play an outstanding player in Alex Kazanecki this Friday.
I discussed how the Panthers are preparing to stop and play against such a dominant player. Kazanecki scored 25 points the last time these two teams faced each other back on January 14th.
Palicki stated, “It’ll be me trying to neutralize him and kind of keep him on his own and face guard him, because once he gets it, he can score from anywhere on the court.” Kazanecki was rated as the eighth best player in the state by the Cincinnati Enquirer. He leads the conference in average points per game with 17 and is looking to continue his streak. The key is to stop Kazanecki to be able to stop this Moeller team.
Post Matchup review
The Panthers fell last Friday in overtime to the Crusaders by a score of 46-42. The Panthers were up by seven going into the final quarter but fell in overtime. The Panthers only made 25% of their 3 pointers and 42% of their field goals. They all around fell short in this game and were unable to defeat the Crusaders for the second time this season, setting up must wins against LaSalle and St. X in the home rematches.
