POTTSVILLE – Panther Valley didn’t know which way to look.

Trying every trick they could pull out of their sleeves, the Panthers were riddled time and again against New Hope-Solebury with its range and length, but couldn’t discombobulate the visiting Lions Wednesday at Martz Hall.

The Panthers clawed their way into the battle early and late in the third period, but never could matchup through four quarters before getting stifled late in dropping a 60-40 decision in this Class 3A 1/11 Subregional. The loss ends Panther Valley’s season.

“It’s a tough way for our seniors to bow out,” said Panther head coach Pat Crampsie. “(Our coaches’) can’t ever question the hustle, the desire to win and the way they’ve helped bring our program back. It’s tough to not have another game, another practice with this great bunch of leaders.”

At the opening, there was a maybe lingering: Maybe the Panthers could play even with the taller Lions. They hung around mostly because of the superb play of senior Rene Figueroa, who kept pestering and annoying the Lions.

Figueroa teamed with fellow guard junior Brandon Stilitino outside, as the Panthers were trying every which way to coerce the Lions into mistakes.

“They’re quickness got to us early,” said winning Solebury coach Rick Fanelli. “All their pressure’s high. They were soft underneath. Back door cuts were there all night long.”

Certainly it helped to have 6-foot-9 Kristopher Taylor sitting in the post. He grabbed a whopping 25 rebounds and his presence was a killer.

“He just kept battling for us,” continued Fanelli. “They did everything (defensively) to stop him, but that freed us up for Alex Walinski, Pat Cooney or Phillip Weinseimer to get easy looks inside.”

Cooney led the triumvirate of scorers with 17 points, Taylor finished with 13 and Walinski dropped in 11, but Weinseimer’s eight third-quarter points were the killer. He drilled all four of his attempts, enabling the Lions to pad their lead to 39-23 before the Panthers put on a mini-run with Figueroa using one of his famed double scoop moves. Stilitino then bombed away for two triples, cutting the deficit to 39-31.

“We made that run...but we made a few bad decisions and missed some shots,” said Crampsie. “That (size) hurt us. They’d get a hand in our face and make us adjust. We’ve seen them on film a few times and scouted them once, and they’re impressive.”

The bigs started to assert themselves in the stretch run, when the Lions kept feeding the baseline cutters or driving over the top of the Panther Valley defense.

Conner nailed down four points, Walinski hit two triples and a short jumper that spread the Solebury lead to 51-38, then salted the contest away with a seven-point run.

“Our pressure couldn’t get to them,” said Crampsie. “They were able to throw over the top. They’re very patient, very disciplined, and they got the look they wanted. It was like one dagger after another.”

And it resulted in a tough way to end the season.

“The most disappointing part about this game, we don’t get another one,” said Crampsie. “The school, the community really rallied around them … they were a fun team to watch.”

UP UP AND AWAY … Panthers had chances in the second quarter to make a big impact, but couldn’t get the ball to drain. They shot 3-for-14, missing seven treys and two bunnies. Meanwhile, New Hope went 6-for-14 in the second to build a 27-17 lead behind the shooting of Connor Wallace, who netted all six of his points in the frame.

IMPRESSIVE … At 6-9, it’s tough not to be the big guy, for it is obvious. Taylor missed his share of easy lay-ins, but pulled in half of his team’s 50 rebounds. PV could only muster 31 rebounds, including eight from steady senior Trey Turner, who also scored 10 points in the game.

NEW HOPE-SOLEBURY

Cooney 8-0-1-17, Taylor 6-1-2-13, Walinski 4-1-1-11, Weinseimer 4-0-2-8, Wallace 3-0-1-6, Sullivan 1-0-1-2, McLaughlin 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 27-2-6-60,

PANTHER VALLEY

Figueroa 8-2-3-19, Turner 4-2-2-10, Stilitino 2-0-0-6, Machorro 1-0-2-2, Buzzard 1-0-0-2, White0-1-2-1, Eidle 0-0-0-0, Cannoli 0-0-0-0, Matula 0-0-0-0, Hoban 0-0-0-0, Miller 0-0-0-0, Berk 0-0-0-0, Brettle 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 17-5-8-40.

New Hope 13 14 12 21 - 60

Panther Vy. 11 6 14 9 - 40

Three-pointers: NH - Walinski 2; PV - Stilitino 3, Figueroa 1.