SOUTH DAYTON - The No. 8 Pine Valley Panthers (7-12) used 20 second-half points from Lucas Trombley en route to a 55-43 victory over the Forestville Hornets (5-14) in a Section 6 Class D prequarterfinal boys basketball matchup on Thursday.
Trombley scored 11 of his 20 post-halftime points in a third quarter which saw the Panthers outscore the Hornets, 19-9.
"He's my floor leader," Pine Valley coach Mark Mansfield said. "He has the ball in his hands most of the time. He's very aggressive and they were just having trouble keeping him away from the basket."
Pine Valley's defense held Forestville to two points in the first quarter while the Hornets battled back to outpace the Panthers, 16-12, in the second period. Pine Valley's defensive stand in the third quarter virtually put the game away heading into the final stanza.
"In the first half, I thought our defense was very good," Mansfield said. "Then we came out in the third quarter and put on quite a run. It was a pivotal quarter."
Trombley finished with 25 points, five rebounds and four steals in the win while Bryce Jay added three points and 10 rebounds. Jacob Wilcox recorded five points, nine rebounds and four assists for the Panthers.
Wayne Hartloff led Forestville with 12 points, eight rebounds and three blocks in defeat. Jacob Makuch added seven points and seven rebounds for the Hornets.
Pine Valley returns to action tonight against top-seeded Brocton at 7 p.m. The Panthers dropped both decisions to the Bulldogs during the regular season.
"We know who they have on the team," Mansfield said. "They've got very good players over there, good senior leadership. We know what we have to do to try and play with them. (Thursday, the players will) go home and they don't have time to think and worry about it. We just go on the bus (today) and play."
FORESTVILLE (43)
Nosbisch 4 2 10, Pleva 3 0 6, Stone 1 0 2, Makuch 3 1 7, Hartloff 6 0 12, Davis 3 0 6, Szumigala 0 0 0, Hooper 0 0 0 Totals 20 3 43
VALLEY (55)
Trombley 9 7 25, Jay 1 1 3, Wilcox 1 3 5, Sticek 3 2 9, Nelson 2 0 4, Raiport 1 0 2, Weaver 1 0 2, Granger 1 1 3, Abers 1 0 2, Isula 0 0 0, Wheeler 0 0 0 Totals 20 14 55
3-point goals: Sticek
Forestville 2 16 9 16 - 43
Pine Valley 9 12 19 15 - 55