Wednesday, December 18th, 2019
In the zone
Kinney, Panthers romp past Jets
By Colin Foster
Photo by Dan Melograna/The Daily Standard
Parkway's Caleb Kinney (40) goes up for two of his 21 points during a game against Adams Central on Tuesday in Rockford.
ROCKFORD - Parkway struggled to find a flow against Adams Central's zone early on Tuesday night.
Then Caleb Kinney got into the zone.
Kinney - who set Parkway's single-game scoring record with 46 on Saturday against Bradford - poured in 21 points, and the Panthers found their rhythm against that zone to connect for 10 3-pointers in a 66-39 win in Rockford.
"It always helps when you can hit some outside shots against their zone," Parkway coach Doug Hughes said. "Caden Slusher, Corey Walls and Dylan Hughes all hit some big shots to open some things up there. Caleb getting to the basket was huge. To be able to do what he did tonight, to score like he did against their zone, it says something. He's a pretty good player."
Parkway (4-3) held a 12-9 lead after one quarter. The Panthers started the second with a 5-0 run as Dylan Hughes hit a 3-pointer and then Gavin Stober converted a layup off a steal. Ben Voirol followed with six straight points for Adams Central, but that was soon trumped by Kinney.
He had nine of his half-high 13 points in the final 4 minutes of the second quarter, Caden Slusher added a 3 and Parkway took a 29-17 lead into halftime.
Then Kinney really got cooking.
He had four buckets in the first 4 minutes of the third quarter - twice scoring while drawing fouls. A Nick Hawk hoop-and-harm 3-point play stretched the Panthers' lead past 20 for the first time at the midway mark. Corey Walls added a pair of 3s in the frame, and Parkway ended with a 48-29 advantage.
The Panthers had a 3 spree in the fourth. Slusher hit a trio from deep in the first 4 minutes, Stober and Dylan each connected for 3s also during that span as Parkway's lead reached 29.
"They posed some problems for us because everybody we've played to this point has run (man-to-man defense)," coach Hughes said. "Every practice has been based on us getting better against man-and-man defense. We knew this stretch was coming, where we're going to see some zone here. We'll see it at the holiday tournament we go to, and we knew Adams Central would throw nothing but zone at us as well. We've had limited practice time against the zone. I thought our kids responded well and made plays."
Slusher had a game-high four 3s on his way to 12 points. Hughes added 10 points and two treys. Walls totaled eight points and two 3s.
Voirol finished with 18 points for the Jets (2-3).
Photo by Dan Melograna/The Daily Standard
Parkway's Corey Walls (10) heads toward the hoop on Tuesday.
