Pinckneyville downs Carterville to finish regular season

PINCKNEYVILLE -- Hunter Riggins hit three early 3-pointers and scored 16 total points Friday to lead the Pinckneyville High School boys basketball team to a 45-27 win over Carterville on Senior Night.
Pinckneyville, which played without Dawson Yates, finished the regular season with a 24-5 record and an 8-2 mark in the SIRR Mississippi Division.
Carterville, which is coached by Pinckneyville alum Shane Hawkins, dropped to 13-17 overall and finished 4-6 in conference play -- but won just three games all of last season.
The Panthers jumped out to a 14-4 lead in the first quarter behind the long-range shooting of Riggins, another bomb from Kelton Linze and a bucket from Ben Restoff.
"They packed into a zone and dared us to shoot from the outside so we had to take them," Pinckneyville coach Bob Waggoner said on his postgame radio interview. "We shot well enough in spurts to get the win."
Riggins led the way with his early barrage.
"Hunter got his touch back," Waggoner said. "He had a really good game defensively tonight, too."
Pinckneyville led 23-11 at halftime, then took a 39-22 lead into the fourth quarter thanks to Dylan Houghland scoring seven of his nine points in the frame.
Houghland and Linze are the Panthers' only seniors.
Grant Tanner finished with nine points and seven rebounds and Houghland also had nine points for Pinckneyville.
Dylan Moore led Carterville with nine points. Austin Garbe had six as the Lions played without leading scorer Eli Downen, who suffered a broken hand recently.
"It took us a while to adjust to how physical they were," Hawkins said. "They do the same things as us; they just do them a little better than us right now."
Carterville has one regular game left, at Herrin, which is one of the teams to beat the Panthers this season. The Lions then turn to the Class 3A postseason and face Marion on the first night at the Massac County Regional.
Pinckneyville is already in the postseason. The Panthers begin play at the Anna-Jonesboro 2A Regional on Tuesday night against either Vienna or Johnston City, with Du Quoin facing the host Wildcats in the other semifinal game Wednesday night.
The regional championship is this coming Friday night.