After the elation of Friday night’s Homecoming win, Switzerland County came back down to earth on Saturday night when the Pacers stumbled through a 59-54 conference loss to Milan.
The Pacers got off to a slow start, trailing 14-5 after the first quarter, but bounced back with a 17-12 second stanza to head into the lockerroom trailing by just four, 26-22.
Switzerland County made another run in the third period, outscoring their guests 15-11 to send the teams into the final period tied at 37-37.
But it was in the final quarter where Milan flexed its offensive muscle at the charity stripe – which was anything but charitable for the Pacers. The Indians went 18-for-20 from the freethrow line in the final quarter alone – 27-for-30 for the entire game – and it was enough to claim the quarter 22-17, leading to the five-point win.
It was the freethrow shooting that made the difference, as Switzerland County connected on five three-pointers – three by Keegan Kincaid and one each by Anthony Dennis and Quinn Meyer – while the Indians failed to convert behind the three-point line.
Milan outscored Switzerland County by 12 points in the game, converting 27 chances while the Pacers were 15-for-24 from the stripe.
Keegan Kincaid led Switzerland County with 18 points on the night, while Austin Clark was in double figures with 16. Trevor Smith finished with seven points; Quinn Meyer added six; Alex Curran had four points and Anthony Dennis chipped in three.
Milan’s John Herzog led all scorers with 24 points.
The Pacers, now standing at 9-7 on the season and 1-2 in conference play, look to get back on track this Saturday night when they travel to Madison Shawe. The junior varsity game gets underway at 6 p.m.
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In the junior varsity game, Switzerland County defeated Milan by a score of 43-27.
Braden Burk led the Pacers with 16 points; while Riley Phagan was also in double figures, finishing with 10 points. T.J. White added five points; Justus Powell had four points; and Nathan Hunter, Ben Curran, Dakota Taylor, and Bob Tressler all had two points each.