Vs. Wyoming (3/19)
Thursday’s Final Four matchup held at the Nutter Center – Wright State University saw the Maysville Panthers facing the Cincinnati Wyoming Cowboys who they beat last year with a Gator Nichols buzzer beater to move on and win the State Championship.
Looking for revenge, the Cowboys started on fire as they powered through the first quarter, hitting shots and defending against Maysville to lead 12 – 4 at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, the Panthers came to life with three pointers from Kane Roehrig and Gator Nichols, followed by back-to-back threes by Gavin Fergusson to hold within ten points as Wyoming ended the first half with a 30 – 20 advantage.
The break gave the Panthers the perspective on the game that they needed to rally in the third quarter, with Nichols and Watson hitting threes as the quarter started. Iden and Roehrig popped in three pointers of their own, followed by Watson getting fouled on a two-pointer to add a bonus shot to bring the Panthers within two, down 38 – 36 with just 2:38 left in the third quarter. Wyoming quickly recovered to end the quarter up 46 – 40. The last minutes of the game saw Watson hit a two-pointer, and Gator got fouled to get three free throws that landed the Panthers back within three points of the Cowboys before Wyoming pulled away and hit the gas in the last minutes of the game to deal out a heartbreaking end to the Maysville season as the starting seniors left the court for the final time for the Panthers as they fell 68 – 51, their first loss since November 28th.
Vs. Circleville (3/14)
For the second time in the week, the Panthers stepped onto the court at the Convocation Center at Ohio University, Athens, on Saturday. Just days after closing MVL rival John Glenn High School’s bid for the championship, Maysville was ready to take the Division IV Regional Title, and they were not about to let Circleville stop them.
The Tigers came into the Division IV Regional Championship game with 18 straight wins under their belts and a 23 – 2 overall record, after squeezing past Unioto 50 – 48 in the semi-final round. The Panthers were on their 24th straight win with a 25 – 1 record overall, and a running-clock 71 – 35 win against MVL challengers John Glenn in the semi-finals. Maysville didn’t expect Circleville to come out and take charge of the game at the tip-off, but that is just what they did, jumping out to a 2 – 0 lead after a couple of minutes on the court and building it to 6 – 3 and eventually 11 – 6 by the middle of the first period. Quick action from Jordyn Watson and Gator Nichols balanced out the game and pushed the Panthers to a 13 – 10 lead before the Tigers tied up the game in the last seconds of the period to end the first quarter 13 – 13. Circleville came back in the second period to leap out to a 21 – 16 lead early on, before the Panthers fought back again to rally back to 21 – 24 with a three from Watson, tying the game at 24. From there, back-to-back shots from Landon Iden, with an additional shot by Kane Roehrig, put the Panthers up 30 – 24. The Tigers fought back, but with a final shot by Gator, Maysville led 32 – 29 at halftime.
Back on the court, you would have thought that the Panthers had a 20-point lead rather than three, as they took control of the ball and dominated the Tigers in the first few minutes of the third quarter to pump their lead to 54 – 42 as the fourth quarter rolled in. Maysville didn’t stop there; they kept on pushing, like they were behind and time was closing in. Unlike the first half of the game, despite rally efforts, the Tigers could not regroup and recover the lead, and they fell to the Panthers 72 – 52, making the Maysville Panthers the 2026 Division IV Region 15 Champions, and taking their spot in the Final Four for the third year in a row.
Senior Kade Rock had this to say when asked about the win: “Oh, it’s crazy, you know. All of Southtown was up here. It’s a great environment here at the Convo. But this is our third one, so we’re starting to get used to it. We want to go all the way and win another state champ. We just have to stay focused the next four days, continue to prepare, and just be ourselves. We know that we can go win, and we just have to prove to the world we can. ”
“Oh, it feels great. You know, three in a row, and we couldn’t be more happy. Obviously, as you know, it’s just one game at a time. We’ve got to take our time just developing practices, watch boom, and I think we’ll like where we are,” stated junior point guard Gavin Ferguson
Vs. John Glenn (3/11)
As one of the three Muskingum County boys basketball teams to make it into the Sweet 16 at the Ohio University Convocation Center in Athens, the John Glenn Lil’ Muskies knew that the second time meeting up with the Panthers this season was going to be that much more of a challenge.
The Muskies walked into the matchup with Maysville with a 24 – 1 record, and that one loss was a 69 – 57 loss to Maysville in December, where the Muskies had an early lead after one quarter but couldn’t hold onto it. As the whistle blew, the tip-off set the game in motion, with the Panthers quickly taking control of the court and pushing out to a 14 – 8 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Muskies tried to fight back against the Maysville offense, but couldn’t hold them back as the Panthers took their lead to the next level in the second period to end the first half up 33 – 16.
When play resumed, the tempo just increased for the Panthers as they capitalized on their lead to nearly double their huge lead as their score landed at 62 – 27 after three quarters. With a running clock in the fourth quarter, the time was not there for the Muskies to bounce back as the Panthers rolled into their third straight final 8, as they ended the season for John Glenn 71 – 35.
Vs. Carrollton (3/6)
Friday night at Claymont High School, the Warriors face off against the Panthers. From the start of the game, the Panthers take control of the ball against Carrollton and double their opponents’ efforts with a 26 – 14 lead at the end of the first quarter. Both teams hit it hard in the second period, but the Warriors couldn’t close the ever-expanding gap as Maysville took a 44 – 25 advantage into the halftime locker room.
After the intermission, the Panthers lit up the scoreboard right away as they continued their mission for the District Title and 18 points on the board to lead Carrollton 62 – 38 after three quarters. Maysville hit the home stretch with power as they pumped out 10 final points to take the Division IV District Title with a final score of 72 – 44.
