Panthers cruise to victory

ROCKFORD - Of the many things that Parkway boys basketball coach Doug Hughes had to be pleased about when looking at the stat sheet after his Panthers rolled past Bradford 80-18 on Monday, it was the distribution of points that made him smile.

Five players scored in double figures - all between 10 and 13 points - and 10 of the 12 players that got into the contest scored at least two points.

"We shared the ball extremely well. That was what we were most excited about in the locker room," said Hughes. "We didn't over-pass, but when a teammate was open we made the extra pass. We had 20 assists on 80 points. Nice balance. It's a lot of fun when we can share the ball like that.

"It's nice to coach a group of kids that unselfish. You look at our field goals attempted (Parkway was 32 of 57 with no player shooting more than nine times). No one is shooting the ball that much."

The win ensures Parkway (11-10) of at least a .500 regular season with the 11 wins the most for the program since the 2007-08 team went 12-11.

The Panthers put pressure on the Railroaders (0-22) from the start. Bradford scored with just over six minutes remaining in the first quarter, but were held to five points over the final 14 minutes if the half as Parkway stormed out to a 26-4 lead after one quarter and were up 47-7 at the half.

The Railroaders had 19 turnovers in the first half and 29 for the game as Parkway converted those turnovers into 32 points.

"I thought our defense was solid with pressure on the basketball," said Hughes. "We were able to contain the dribble and had great communication."

In the second half, Parkway was working its way to scoring at least 80 points for the third time this season and possibly break the school record for fewest points for the second time in four days after holding New Knoxville to just 17 points last Friday night.

Parkway led 63-12 after three quarters, but the Railroaders were able to avoid their lowest point total of the season when Connor Jones hit a 3-pointer with under three minutes to play to give Bradford 18 points.

Dylan Hughes finished with 13 points to lead Parkway. Mason Baxter and Preston Stober each scored 12. Caleb Kinney scored 11 and Caden Slusher finished with 10.

Taven Leach led Bradford with five points.

Parkway wraps up the regular season on Friday at Minster.