MADRID — Slowly but surely the Madrid cagers widened their lead over visiting Panorama Tuesday to eventually claim a 54-45 win in West Central Conference boys basketball.
Neither team was able to open a lead too big to overcome, with the final margin the widest by which the squads were separated on the scoreboard save for a brief moment in the first half. Madrid (3-3, 3-2) trailed, 10-8, with a minute to play in the first quarter, but then used a 12-0 spurt to open a 20-10 margin two minutes into the second frame.
Panorama (1-5, 1-4) responded by chipping away at their deficit and closed to within 26-22 at the intermission by scoring 12 of the final 18 points in the half. The Tigers doubled their advantage from four points to eight, at 38-30, at the end of three periods, and the Panthers simply could not make enough headway to seriously threaten in suffering the loss.
Braden Gibbons led the hosts with 20 points, with Landon Burke adding 10 points. Madrid finished 10-of-16 at the foul line; Panorama was 15-of-23.
Bryce Halterman’s 15 points paced the Panthers, with Trey Cobb adding 11 points. Luke South had seven points, Gracen Welberg six, Jeramy Randol four and Will Babcock two for the visitors.
Halterman had nine rebounds, four assists and three steals with Randol and Welberg clearing six boards and handing out two assists apiece. South contributed three steals and Babcock two for the Panthers.
Panorama returns to the court Friday with a visit to WCC foe Van Meter.
