Big quarter from McArthur lifts Powell

Top-ranked Powell laid claim to round 1 of the Park County rivalry with a decisive 60-38 victory on Friday night. The Panther boys improved to 9-1 overall this season and 5-0 in 3A West conference play.

“Mostly, we just came out and played hard and executed,” said Panther head coach Mike Heny. “We shot the ball well. It was sort of a culmination of what we’d been working on all week. The kids did a good job of finding the matchups that we were looking for.”

Using that workmanlike approach, the Panthers quickly established an edge on the scoreboard against Cody and built that lead into double figures by halftime. The Broncs made a bit of a move coming out of the locker room in the third quarter, chopping Powell’s lead back to 10 points, but never getting closer.

Junior Marshall McArthur scored 11 of his 18 points in the third period to trigger a Panther run that slammed the door on Bronc comeback dreams. One of the key plays during that stretch, according to Heny, came after a Chase Partridge layup as McArthur swiped Cody’s inbound pass for another easy Panther bucket, quickly reinstating a 14-point Powell lead.

“Both Chase and Josh (Cragoe) were in a little foul trouble, so we needed Marshall to step up,” Heny said. “With him being the guy with the ball in his hands a lot and Cody having a younger kid trying to defend him, he just decided to take the ball to the rim and finish, and that was pretty big for us.”

In addition to the junior’s offensive play, McArthur provided the Panthers with plenty of support in the rebounding department as he hauled down 12 of Powell’s 31 boards to finish with a double-double in the contest. He also led the team with three steals.

“The other thing about Marshall is we put him out at the top of our 1-3-1 zone and he gives opponents fits because of his length,” said Heny. “Suddenly they’re having to start their offense 30 feet away from the basket and that makes it pretty hard for them to hit those seams.”

Partridge led all scorers with 22 points for the Panthers.

The Panthers face another one-game weekend this week as the team hosts Worland on Friday night for its only action of the week. Unlike recent years, this season’s contest with Worland counts as a non-conference affair after the Panthers’ southern Big Horn Basin foe was shuttled into the 3A East conference as part of the latest reclassification cycle from the state activities association.

“The way the schedule has been, it really works to our advantage,” said Heny. “It’s giving us time to look at the individual execution, whereas sometimes in conference play when you have two games, you’re spending a lot more of your time looking at preparation.”

The game will also be just the third home date this season for the Panthers so far.

“Our kids are really excited to be playing at home again,” said Heny. “I think this will help us as we get ready for that next tough road portion of our schedule.”

Tipoff this Friday will be approximately 7:30 p.m.

Powell 60, Cody 38

Marshall McArthur 18, Cooper Wise 5, Hayden Cragoe 2, Brady Schaefer 4, Justin Lynn 1, Chase Partridge 22, Josh Cragoe 6, Vince Sleep 2.

Rebounding: McArthur 12. Assists: Schaefer 3. Steals: McArthur 3. Blocked Shots: McArthur and Partridge, 1 each.