South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

Panther boys show slight improvement, but remain winless in Suburban West

By STEPHEN GLOVER

For the Call

Although it may not be translating to results in the wins column, the boys’ basketball team at Mehlville Senior High School is making progress, according to head coach Andy Guethle.

“We’re making progress, especially on defense,” Guethle told the Call. “Offen-sively we’re still not executing like we want to. We just need to be more disciplined during the games.”

The Panthers (4-8, 0-4 Suburban West) played host to Northwest last Friday and found themselves down 28-20 at halftime.

Mehlville tied the game up 41-41 late in the third quarter, but the Lions held on, pulling away in the fourth quarter for the 55-50 win.

“They (Northwest) got out to an early lead and the kids fought back and tied it up late in the third quarter,” Guethle said. “The kids put forth a good effort, we just came up short.”

Mehlville’s Rodney Heard led the Panthers with 13 points, six assists, four rebounds and two steals in the losing effort to the Lions.

The Mehlville senior guard has averaged 10.2 points a game this season while leading the team in assists with 61 and steals with 23.

“Rodney does his best when he pushes the ball up the court,” Guethle said. “They really didn’t guard him that much and (he) struggled from the field and went 6 of 18 (shooting). It was a frustrating night for Rodney and our team too.”

The Panthers’ Nick DuBuque also scored in double figures with 12 points, one steal and one rebound. The senior guard made 5 of 9 shots from the field while draining 2 of 6 from three-point range.

“Nick’s such a good shooter that I need to find a way to get him more looks at the basket,” Guethle said. “He put forth a good effort for us both offensively and defensively.”

David Williams also scored 12 points for the Panthers as he pulled down seven re-bounds and created one steal against Northwest. The sophomore forward is be-ginning to make an impact and Guethle is confident good things will come from Williams the next several years.

“David’s only a sophomore and we’re looking for big things from him in the future,” Guethle said.

“He’s talented and had a really nice game where he basically played the whole second half,” he added.

The Panthers are back in action at 7:30 p.m. Friday when Fox travels to town for a Suburban West Conference contest.

The Warriors recently beat Mehlville 48-43 in the Seckman Holiday Tournament on Dec. 28.

“They (Fox) have a guard by the name of (Brian) Ellison that’s a nice player,” Gueth-le said. “They beat us in the Seckman tournament and we’re one of their two wins this season. It’s going to be another battle and a pretty good matchup for us.”

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