Commerce 63, Van Alstyne 45

By Jack Walker

Staff Writer

The Panthers basketball season came to an end last Friday night in Princeton as the Commerce Tigers posted a 63-45 win in a play-in game. The two teams finished tied for the third and final playoff spot in District 10-3A and Commerce dominated every phase of the game to win the rubber match.

Van Alstyne had no defensive answer to the Commerce big men on the inside. A 6-7 Cameron Nelson and 6-4 Terrance Walker claimed almost every rebound at both ends of the floor and Nelson had 29 points to lead the Tiger offense.

Van Alstyne came out pounding the ball inside with hopes of getting some early foul trouble on the Commerce bigs and at first the plan was working. Two quick fouls on Slater Siedelmann sent the Van Alstyne forward to the foul line where he made the first two free throws. The Panthers inability to convert on close in shots and the outstanding play of Nelson swung momentum the Commerce way and Van Alstyne was unable to recover.

"I think when we missed some early shots, we got out of our game plan and we couldn't get re-focused." Van Alstyne coach Joe McCullough said. " We wanted to get a lead and be able to control the pace of the game but Nelson just took over."

The Commerce post player had 12 points in the first quarter of action to get his team off to the quick start.

Van Alstyne got eight of their first period points as a result of plays inside the paint as Siedelmann and Colten Campbell scored on post moves and Levi DeMasters took nice feeds from Chance Grayson to go back-door for easy shots.

It was all Nelson in the second period as he scored six of the Tigers points in the period to help give Commerce a 27-14 lead at the break.

DeMasters scored again on a back cut to open the second half and after the Panthers forced a Tiger turn over, things were looking better. After the Panthers missed on another outside shot attempt, a three-pointer by T.J. Pannell spoiled the view and Nelson and Walker quickly rebuilt the lead to 15.

All year long the Panther offense has relied heavily on the long-ball and it just was not falling on this night. A three-pointer by Chance Grayson at the 4:42 mark of the third quarter was the first of the night and Chance Miller had another two minutes deep in the fourth and that was it for the long-distance dialing.

"We have won a lot of games with our perimeter shooters and Miller has been a big part of that, but you have those nights when they don't fall and we didn't adjust," McCullough said.

Van Alstyne finishes the season all even with a 16-16 mark.

Commerce 19 8 16 20-63

Van Alstyne 10 4 14 17-45

VA: Slater Siedelmann 14, Levi DeMasters 13, Colten Campbell 8, Chance Miller 3, Chance Grayson 3, D.J. Seay 2, Austin Rogers 2.