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Deshaun Thomas came up short of the record book, and more importantly his team fell short on the scoreboard in a big SAC matchup against Snider.
After scoring 35 points in a 66-56 home loss to Snider on Tuesday, Thomas is three points short of the all-time Allen County boys scoring record.
“Sometimes you have to motivate yourself, and sometimes you have to trust your teammates. (Tuesday) we didn’t indicate that at all,” Luers coach James Blackmon said of Thomas.
Thomas, who also had 18 rebounds, has 1,821 career points, just behind James Hardy’s 1,823. His next chance will be Friday at Northrop and former teammate Troy Amos.
The key for the Panthers, though, was concentrating on Thomas’ current running mates. He was 10 of 26 from the field, while the rest of the team was 7 of 27.
“It is not about stopping Deshaun because nobody stops Deshaun,” Snider coach Ray Sims said. “The one thing you want to do is stop everybody else.
“Deshaun is going to get his. I thought our kids did a good job of stopping the other kids from having a career night.”
Luers trailed 57-42 in the fourth quarter before a 13-2 run trimmed the margin to 59-55 with a minute remaining. But Reggie Hearn had three points as Snider finished off the game with a 7-1 run.
“We talked to the guys about being marked, and how you can’t take nights off,” Blackmon said. “If you are a good team, you can’t take nights off. I felt like we took this game for granted as far as not playing for 32 minutes.
“Sometimes a good loss is a good learning experience. Hopefully, our guys learned from this. We talk to the guys about these things, and I think we got their attention tonight.”
It was the first regular-season conference loss for the SAC tournament-champion Knights (9-3, 3-1), while Snider (6-1) improved to 2-0 in league play.
The game was a rematch from the SAC tournament title game in December, and the Panthers got the revenge after losing 66-57. Snider has played Luers in its last two games.
Snider got 16 points each from Brad Sneary and Spencer Anderson, while Hearn added 13.
Thomas was knocking on the door for the record when he had 27 points through three quarters, despite his team trailing 48-41. But he didn’t score in the fourth quarter until just over two minutes were left. He finished with eight points in the fourth.
Thomas scored 22 points and had 14 rebounds in the first half.
Snider opened up the third period on a 13-0 run to lead 43-30.
Luers trailed briefly in the second quarter when Snider went on a 9-0 run to go ahead 24-17. The Knights came right back with an 8-0 run of their own.
