Behind 27 points from Champ Powaukee, the Neosho County Panthers are in arm’s reach of securing a home playoff game thanks to a 78-66 win over the Highland Scotties on Wednesday night in KJCCC play.
“There were some scary moments, but to our guys’ credit, they responded,” Neosho County head coach Taylor Shaffer said. “When you play Highland, you have to be the tougher team. We got back to our identity, which is guarding. We made them work for everything they got.”
Powaukee connected on 10-of-16 shots, along with 3-of-4 foul shots, to rack up his 27 points for the Panthers. He added a pair of rebounds and assists.
“Champ bailed us out a lot,” Shaffer said. “There were times when things didn’t go as planned. When things broke down, he made play after play. He did it on both ends of the floor. I’m proud of the way he battled. He got downhill and made big shots.”
Raziel Taylor racked up eight assists and five points on 2-of-10 shooting for Neosho County.
“When you look at his statline and his field goal attempts, it doesn’t look great. But every shot he took was a good shot,” Shaffer said. “They didn’t fall tonight. But he didn’t let that phase him. He did a great job of handling pressure. He’s the best true point guard we’ve had.”
Colton Knoll led Highland with 16 points on 4-of-10 shooting.
Neosho County connected on 42% (10-of-24) of its 3-pointers in the win — a needed asset as the Scotties limited Cooper Weeks’ production in the paint.
“Highland came in with a gameplan of taking away the paint. If I was playing us, I’d do the same,” Shaffer said. “In the second semester, we haven’t shot as well. But the good thing about our threes tonight was that they were inside-out or transition threes. Early in the year, we were bailing teams out and not making them guard.”
With four-team tie for third place heading into Saturday’s regular season finale, Neosho County is in striking distance to earn a home playoff game — the No. 1 seed receives a bye with seeds 2-4 hosting at least the first round.
“Tonight was huge,” Shaffer said. “We got to get a win on Sophomore Night. And we had to win this one to host. If we lose any of our last two games, we don’t get to host.”
Up next
Neosho County heads north to face Kansas City Kansas on Saturday.
“They’re really good defensively and do a great job of slowing the game down,” Shaffer said. “They’re athletic. That’s a game I thought we gave them the last time we played them. We got up 15 on them.”
