turned to this bench for help and they didn’t

turned to this bench for help and they didn’t let the coach down. The substitutes “played like veterans,” he noted.

Clarence Pendleton started Rapp’s offense, scoring six points in the opening minutes. But the Panthers only managed two more in the opening period which ended 8-10, Clarke ahead. The Eagles continued to hold the stronger hand through most of the second quarter, leading by as many as six points on three different occasions but the Panthers fought back with baskets from Rob Brown and Mike DelGrosso and free throws from Pendleton. The visitors from RCHS trailed by only a point, 20-21, at the half.

Brown In The Spotlight

It was Rob Brown’s turn to shine at the start of the third period as he tossed in six points while Clarke only managed one free throw, giving the Panthers a comfortable 26-22 edge. They made it a little more comfortable by the close of the quarter, unleashing a scoring barrage that upped the tally to 38-30.

But Clarke wasn’t ready to concede. They battled back to a three point deficit midway through the final period when Tommy Jenkins was sent to the bench with five fouls and 3:10 left. The Eagles hit on both free throws to cut Rapp’s margin to one. Panther fans started to sweat a little as Pendleton managed only one of two foul shots to push Rapp’s advantage back to a shakey two pojnts with only 1:33 left. r

Then Tony Sisk fouled mto a three point play. The Eagle at the foul line Iropped the ball through the let and it was 48-49, Clarke.

The pressure was on the ^anthers. Sunstitute Robert Starks recaptured the I£ad or RCHS with a great baseine move and DelGrosso asured at least an overtime rame for the Panthers with steal and free throw as the lock ticked down to 25 secnds. Apparently the Eases’ coach thought his boys ould pull the game out in vertime as they ran the ime down to 10 seconds beire taking a successful shot o tie the score at 51 all. But those 10 seconds