Rockets boys basketball defeats Miller City

Aiden Harris reaches 1,000 pt. milestone

By Matt M. Stutz

On Monday, January 8, the Pandora-Gilboa High School boy’s basketball team picked up a huge Putnam County League win on the road, defeating the Miller City Wildcats 52-40 (7-3, 1-1 PCL).  The Rockets remain undefeated at 10-0.

There was a buzz in the air, as the near capacity crowd anticipated the start of this physical league match-up. Also, P-G senior guard Aiden Harris was just six points away from reaching 1,000 for his career.  Harris didn’t disappoint as he led the Rockets in scoring with 18 points.

With P-G leading 14-11 after the first quarter of action thanks to two Nate Maag three-pointers, Harris reached the milestone early in the second, scoring the first two points of the quarter. A jump shot from the top of the key hit nothing but net, as the game was briefly stopped to congratulate him on the milestone.

Colin Harris and Zach Neuenschwander did the majority of the scoring for the Rockets the rest of the way in the second quarter as C. Harris tallied seven and Neuenschwander scored his game total of 5 points. P-G went to halftime up three at 30-27.

Miller City made their move in the third quarter, outscoring the Rockets 11-5 as the Wildcats gained momentum, up 38-35 heading into the final eight minutes. But with 6:01 left in the game and the game tied at 40-40, the Rockets defense took over, shutting out the Wildcats the rest of the way.

Following up A. Harris’s big night scoring was his twin brother C. Harris, who added 10 points. Maag finished the game with 8 points while Aidan Morris dropped in 7 points, knocking down a huge 3 pointer in the fourth quarter.  Nate Walker scored 2 points in the first quarter for the Rockets and Owen Huffman scored 2 points in the fourth quarter to close out the P-G scoring.

The Rockets will take the court again this Friday night, Jan. 12 when they host Vanlue for a Blanchard Valley Conference battle.