Panthers beat LC despite shooting woes

By Rex Kirts

Offensively, South hit only two of 19 3-point shots. And that's why the Panthers celebrate the defensive work of Joey Forney.
Forney took on Lawrence Central junior wingman Jeremy Hollowell, a major college prospect, and shut him down to five points Friday. That helped the Panthers stay perfect on the season at 6-0 and perfect in Conference Indiana at 2-0 with a 65-51 victory.
There were other plusses for coach J.R. Holmes' team. With the outside shooting game colder than a December night, the Panthers dropped in 33 of 41 free throws, got another sparkling all-around production from Dee Davis and enjoyed the continued improvement of Desmond Marks.
Twenty-one of the free throws came in the fourth quarter. At the start of the period, with a six-point lead, the Panthers took the air out of the ball and forced LC to foul. What had been a tight ball game slowly turned into South-in-command.
THE PANTHERS with contributions from all its starters, who scored 64 of the their 65 points. Davis had 22 points, Spencer Turner 18 despite 1-9 shooting on 3s, Marks 13, Forney 6 and Ben Stowell 5.
Davis was everywhere. In the fourth quarter, getting steals and rebounds, it looked like there was five of him on the court. Besides his points, for the game he had five rebounds, five assists and four steals. And he gets high marks for a couple of incredible moves to the basket, especially in the first quarter.
Turner was cold from ouotside, but he hit 11 of 12 free throws and led the team in rebounds with six.
Marks had 13 points and five rebounds. Eight of the points came in the third quarter as he got the Panthers off to a quick start.
Forney does not have the quickest feet on a basketball court, but his heart if pretty stout. His contributions come from battling. Besides sticking close to Hollowell and slowing him down Forney had five rebounds.
"I FELT I COULD contribute on defense," Forney said. "He is such a skilled athlete." Hollowell got a bit frustrated, though, and picked up a technical foul in the second quarter. He spent most of the period on the bench.
Holmes was happy to rack up a conference win on the road.
"We didn't play great, but decent," Holmes said. "Joey really battled, and Michael Bower did when he came in (to guard Hollowell). I thought Dee was ready to play."
Another factor in South's making up for cold shooting (.366) was ball handling. The Panthers made only six turnovers to 19 for LC.
CARLINO IN CROWD: Former Panther Matt Carlino attended the game with former teammate Erik Fromm, a freshman at Butler. Carlino is thinking of transferring to Butler after leaving UCLA.