Pam Pack pull away in third quarter against scrappy North Pitt

Published 7:23 pm Friday, January 10, 2025

By Jason O. Boyd

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While it was very cold outside Thursday night, the Washington High School boys’ basketball game with North Pitt may have reminded some of a warm summer day.

In the first half, the Pam Pack would build a big lead only to have North Pitt buzz back like those gnats that get in your face. Washington would swat the Panthers away only to have them come back annoyingly again.

Washington (10-5, 2-1 Eastern Plains Conference) made some adjustments at halftime, came out big on both sides of the ball in the third quarter and essentially squashed that problem for an 86-66 victory. The Pack outscored North Pitt 30-10 in the third — which included three 3-pointers in about two minutes — and played aggressive pressure defense that caused turnovers and led to easy baskets.

Thanks to a 3-point basket by Chaise Smith with 1:03 left in the first half, the Pam Pack went into the break with a 41-30 lead instead of a single-digit lead. They led by double digits midway through the second quarter before an 11-2 run by the Panthers (3-11, 0-4) cut the margin to 34-25.

“I think like at halftime, we were talking at halftime, we went up at one point in the second quarter by like 18, I think,” Washington coach David Allewalt said. “And then we kind of lost our focus a little bit and let them climb within an eight-point game just before halftime.

“So I challenged the guys, as a good basketball team, we have to learn to put teams away when we can. We keep letting teams hang around. And so we decided to just go ahead and throw out a full-court press out of the break and send the tempo, speed the game up, which caters to us.”

Anderson Thomas was a big part of the Pack’s night, finishing with 14 points. He scored seven of the Pack’s first nine points and hit a 3-pointer that started a 20-2 run in the decisive third.

“We just had to play hard and get rebounds,” Thomas said. “That was the main thing. We were more athletic than them.

“Once I got that first rebound, things were going my way. I could get rebounds and then just get in the right spot at the right time. We’re just building up momentum, just trying to get better and better every game, every day.”

In addition to Thomas, Chaise Smith (18 points), Jacob Daniels (17) and Javon Thomas (13) also reached double digits in scoring.

“I thought the intensity level was really good early,” Allewalt said. “I thought it might have been one of the best quarter and a half we played all year. We moved the ball really, really well.

“Everybody shared. Defensively, we played really well. Lapsed it on the rebound a little bit, but for the most part, we threw out a new 2-3 matchup zone for like two or three minutes in the second quarter. That really worked out real good, so we’re going to keep working on that.”

Washington’s girls (0-10, 0-3) hung around against North Pitt but the Panthers (6-9, 2-2) hit enough baskets, including some clutch 3-pointers, for a 51-27 win.

 

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