The Panthers opened the new year Thursday, January 4th at home against Quad Cities Christian looking for their third win in a row. 

Tanner Miller scored 11 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter as Pathway pulled away for a 48-34 win over QCCS.  Micah Hostetler led the Panther scoring finishing with 21 points while pulling down 12 rebounds in a strong performance. 

Hostetler got Pathway going early by scoring a couple baskets in the paint and then knocking in a three pointer, leading to a 10-5 first-quarter advantage.  Both teams struggled to find the range in the second period as Pathway hung on to a 17-11 half time lead.  Quad Cities used an 8-2 third quarter spurt to tie the game at 19 with five minutes to play in the period. 

Pathway was able to respond with a Miller three ball and a couple baskets from Hostetler to give the Panthes a 27-22 lead heading into the final period.  The Pathway scoring heated up in the fourth as the home team netted 21 points in the period to pull away for the win.  Miller was able to beat the Quad Cities defense to the rim for key baskets late in the game.  

Miller also grabbed seven rebounds to go with three assists.  Sophomore forward Blayde Lybarger scored eight points, all in the second half, and pulled down a season high 18 rebounds. Freshman Ryker Miller had a big fourth quarter steal that he converted into a basket to give Pathway a little breathing room late in the game.

"Every time they made a run our guys came up with some big baskets.  We did a nice job handling the full court pressure late and got enough stops to pull out the win,"  commented coach Aaron Gingerich.  

Pathway moves to 3-1 in the NICC and 5-4 overall and next plays Thursday, January 6th at Morning Star Academy.