IN TRANSITION — Buckeye Local’s Matt Morris drives the lane in transition after a steal against Indian Creek on Friday. - Andrew Grimm

The Panthers answered the challenge from their first year coach.

Buckeye Local netted the first eight points of the game against visiting Indian Creek and never trailed, fending off the Redskins for a 49-43 victory on Kara Bright Court.

“We played Tuesday night against River and did not play with a lot of intensity, so we talked in practice about playing harder, playing with a chip on our shoulder,” Roberts said. “It told them we needed to start playing angry, playing hard and being aggressive I was happy with how we came out and went right at them out of the gate.

“The point of emphasis was effort from the start. We came out flat on Tuesday, tonight we wanted to start fast and we did that.”

Buckeye Local’s Rylan Walker puts up a layup. - Andrew Grimm

The fast start put the Panthers (2-8) in front, but Creek did not go away, closing within as close as three and keeping the deficit in single digits most of the way. The Panthers, though, seemed to come up with answer the other way every time they needed it.

“We had the responses we needed,” Roberts said. “We’ve been in a lot of close games this year, we’re learning to stay poised. I tell them every night its a game of runs, team are going to go on runs, we have to weather the storm and respond with our own.

“I’m seeing us learn from being in some close games and it not going our way. We’ve played some really good teams close, and so has Indian Creek. When you’ve been close ta number of times, when you get over the hump and put one away it feels really nice.”

Creek (1-8), playing its first game without longtime head coach Joe Dunlevy after he was hospitalized late last week, never stopped fighting after the slow start and had a big push late in the opening half.

Kade Haines hit a triple at the buzzer cut the margin to three at the break, but the Panthers again had a good start to the second half and pushed their lead back to nine late in the third, ultimately leading by eight after three.

Creek’s Nishon White scores two of his game-high 24 points. - Andrew Grimm

The hosts pushed the margin to double digits just past the midway point of the fourth. Creek cut it to seven twice, but the Panthers made a couple key shots and went 4 for 6 from the foul line in the final quarter to keep Creek at bay.

Leading the way for the Panthers was Rylan Walker with 15 points, while Kolton Carothers knocked down three treys in the big opening quarter on his way to netting 14.

For the Redskins, 6-foot-7 senior Nishon White led the way with a game-high 24 points, almost all of which came in the paint.

UP NEXT

Indian Creek: Hosts Beaver Local on Tuesday.

Buckeye Local: Travels to Brooke on Tuesday.

Buckeye Local 49, Indian Creek 43

IC 10-11-10-12 — 43

BL 18-6-15-10 — 49

INDIAN CREEK (1-8): Nickell 0 0-0 0; McGrew 2 1-2 6; Pietro 1 0-0 2; Saffle 2 0-0 6; Haines 2 0-1 5; White 11 2-3 24; Mazar 0 0-0 0; Lyons 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 18, 3-6; 43.

BUCKEYE LOCAL (2-8): Kirkland 2 0-0 5; Walker 6 2-2 15; Carothers 5 3-4 14; Morris 2 0-0 4; Wright 3 0-2 6; Pratt 1 0-0 2; Wilhelm 0 1-2 1. TOTALS: 19, 6-12; 49.

3-POINTERS: Indian Creek 4 (Saffle 2, McGrew, Haines); Buckeye Local 5 (Carothers 3, Kirkland, Walker).