It wasn’t pretty, but it got the job done.

The Panthers survived foul trouble in both halves, which limited their high scorer to the bench for most of the game, to outlast the host Monticello Panthers, 58-55, in the championship game of the Dick “Coach” O’Neill Jingle Ball Classic at Monticello High School on Saturday.

Kyle Krebs, who led the Panthers with a team-high 13 points, was named the tournament MVP.

“It’s nice to get your recognition, but at the end of the day, it’s a great team win,” Krebs said. “I think it builds character as team, and I think we’re getting better with each and every day. I think this was something that we needed as a team.”

The Panthers seemed as though they were battling from behind all game, and foul trouble kept some of their key players off the floor for extended periods, especially in the first half.

Mat Shea was whistled for his third foul late in the first quarter and sat out for the rest of the half. He returned at the beginnings of the third and fourth quarter and was whistled for a foul almost immediately and fouled out early in the fourth. He played about a minute of the second half.

“Around here, it’s just like ‘next man up’ mentality,” Krebs said. “We could have anybody go down and I can guarantee you that every single person on the bench is going to step up and they’re going to put 100 percent every second they’re on the floor.”

In total, three players fouled out: Shea, Jeremy Figueroa, and Jack Rauschenbach.
But the Panthers showed their depth, and only trailed by a point at halftime.

“The guys off the bench were tremendous,” Wallkill coach Hunter Andrews said. “Ty Crowley, Dom Pelella, Mason Ondreyko: they gave us great minutes, especially on the defensive end and then Ty shot the ball really well, too.”

It was Crowley’s basket that gave the Panthers their first lead of the day, when he knocked down a 3 with 1:10 left in the third to give them a 34-32 lead.

However, Monticello’s Michael Mingot got his team even when he knocked down two free throws, but R.J. Taylor hit a jump shot and Pelella hit a layup as time expired on the third quarter to send the Panthers into the third quarter, leading 38-34.

Monticello scored four straight points to tie the game at the start of the fourth quarter, but Taylor, who finished with 10 points, Sean Perrin and Krebs each knocked down a 3-pointer around a layup by Monticello’s Joseph Russo to take a 47-40 lead,

After a basket by Mingot, Crowley hit a 3 to give the Panthers an eight-point lead.

“I think that’s one of the biggest parts of our team,” Krebs said. “Anybody on our team can light it up like that. So, I think us being able to hit a couple of 3s in a row, it’s a big bonus and I think that’s something that really helped us win this game.”

The Panthers had built their biggest lead, nine points after Rauschenbach, show scored 10 points, converted a 3-point play, but the fouls and turnovers started to pile up and Monticello pulled to within a single point, 55-54.

But the Panthers hit 3 of 5 free throws to end it to finish the game and claim the title.

In addition to Krebs, Shea and Figueroa were named to the all-tournament team for the 9-0 Panthers. Mingot, who scored a game-high 21 points, and Dylan Hardy, who scored 10 were named to the all-tournament team.

“A really rough physical game,” Andrews said. “Monticello was extremely well-coached. They had a great game plan for us physically, but we were able to shoot the ball pretty well in the second half, especially our 3s, which gave us a little bit of a lead. We’ve got to be better executing offensively. There’s going to be tough wins like this that we need to go through and grow through, so it was a good learning experience.”