Boost from Smith’s 3-pointer ignites Panthers’ closing kick in victory over Raiders

PALMYRA, Mo. — It was as if Mason Smith had flipped a switch.

As soon as the Palmyra senior guard’s go-ahead 3-pointer with 3:50 left in the fourth quarter of the Panthers’ clash with Quincy Notre Dame on Tuesday swished through the net and the home crowd erupted, Smith could feel the electricity pulsing through his veins.

“That was a very exciting moment,” Smith said. “Very hype.”

Palmyra sophomore guard Hudson Bock felt it, too.

“That was a huge shot,” Bock said. “We needed that to get the momentum, get the energy back pumping into our bodies.”

Panthers coach Brian Rea noticed a shift in the way his players carried themselves after Smith’s triple.

“I could see their body language,” Rea said. “He just stepped up and knocked down that three, and that energized us for the rest of the game.”

The Panthers never relinquished the lead in riding out a 66-58 victory.

Smith’s momentum-changing shot came just 25 seconds after QND senior guard Alex Dance put the Raiders in front 52-51 with a layup over Palmyra’s Pierce White. Smith and the Panthers did not let the fact that they had just let an eight-point lead slip away drain their confidence.

“The big thing is that we just didn’t give up, kept our composure and kept playing,” said Smith, who finished with 18 points. “A lot of kids, when they give up that big of a lead, when they see the score not going the way they want, they just give up. We didn’t. We kept pushing.”

Bock said this composure was the key to the Panthers regaining the lead and stretching it.

“Coach Rea always preaches being calm, being collected,” Bock said. “We won the game because we kept calm and didn’t play with our emotions.”

Between Dance’s layup and a Carter Miller layup with five seconds to go, the Raiders scored just four points and made one field goal. The Raiders even had four chances from point-blank range on the same possession while trailing 63-56 in the final minute, but none of them dropped.

“I’m sitting there watching that ball go up once, twice, three, four times and it still won’t go in,” Raiders coach Greg Altmix said. “Some nights, you just shake your head.”

The Panthers made 10 of their 14 free throw attempts in the final 2:31. White’s free throws with 1:12 left pushed the Panthers’ lead to 61-54, their first three-possession advantage since it was 49-42 with 6:07 left.

“The only thing I could really think to myself was, ‘I need to make these. I need to help my teammates. This is where I play my role. We practice these every day,’” White said.

Those free throws were White’s only points of the game, but his defense helped the Panthers turn a one-point lead after the first quarter into a 28-22 cushion at halftime. White had three steals in the second quarter, and after the third theft, he assisted Bock for a fast-break layup that gave the Panthers a 27-22 lead with 15 seconds left in the half.

“Pierce is one of our best defenders,” Rea said. “He’s a baller. He’s ready to play.”

Bock scored 23 of his 25 points in the final three quarters, made two 3-pointers in the third quarter and converted on 7 of 8 free throws.

“When he starts getting hot, especially in this gym, there aren’t many shots that I won’t let him take,” Rea said. “He did a great job.”

Bock also showed off his vision and playmaking abilities on the Panthers’ possession following Smith’s tide-turning trifecta. Bock drove to the left elbow and whipped a pass to Luke Sheppard near the right block. Sheppard cashed in Bock’s dish with a contested layup to double Palmyra’s lead to 56-52.

“He does a great job with that just like his brother (Bear Bock) did,” Rea said. “He can go get buckets when we need them, but he’s also unselfish enough to where if somebody’s open, he’ll hit him with a nice pass. I even talked to him and said, ‘That was a great pass.’”

Even though QND could not get its shots to fall in crunch time, Altmix commended the Raiders’ effort during that time.

“They kept their composure,” Altmix said. “Did we do everything right? No. Did I make every right call? No. They kept their heads, and I told them you’ve got to be able to do that when things are getting crazy. You have to be able to stay focused, and overall they did. It’s just consistently doing things the right way.”

Palmyra (6-1) will welcome Unity to the Flower City on Friday before a date with Griggsville-Perry in the Rumble at the River on Saturday at John Wood Community College. QND (5-2) will face Camp Point Central at The Pit on Friday then trek across town to Blue Devil Gym on Saturday to take on Quincy High School.