File photo – Jordan Brown

The McKinleyville Panthers closed out the Enterprise tournament with back-to-back wins on Friday and Saturday, as they get set to begin league play next week.

On Friday, the Panthers defeated Fall River 57-37 and they followed that with a 52-38 win over West Valley on Saturday.

The Panthers, who closed out tournament play 2-1 and are now 11-6 on the season, appear to be finding their groove ahead of their league opener at Del Norte on Tuesday night.

Saturday’s performance was one of their best of the season.

“We played our most complete game of the season so far, so that as great to see,” head coach Chris Davis said. “A good amount of open shots didn’t fall, but our ball movement improved a lot and we attacked at the right moments.”

Cole Armstrong led the way for the team in tournament play and was named to the all-tournament team after scoring nine points on Saturday.

Flynn Creighton also impressed and finished with 14 points, while Nick Maher added 12 points and Bode Douglass finished with 10.

“The afternoon game in the last day of a three-day tournament can be very exhausting, but our guys dug deep and put forth a great effort,” Davis said. 

Armstrong scored a team-high 16 points in Friday’s win over Fall River, while Maher added 10 points and Jordan Brown and Creighton each finished with eight points.

It was team defense that paved the way to victory.

“Our defensive pressure continued to cause issues for the Bulldog guards, specifically with a great defensive effort in the second quarter,” Davis said. “We did a great job contesting shots win their shooters and limiting second-chance opportunities for the majority of the game.”

Brown continued to play a key role for the team.

“Jordan led our offense with a solid night distributing the ball, and overall the team executed our zone offense well,” Davis added.

File photo