In his previous two games, the Southwestern senior set program records with 43 points and 47 points in victories over Dunkirk and Olean, respectively.

Fredonia made sure it didn’t become part of Pannes’ personal highlight reel Tuesday.

In fact, the Hillbillies didn’t even allow the Trojans to reach 43 points as a team.

Jay Hawk led three Fredonia players in double figures with 16 points and the Hillbillies defense stifled Southwestern’s shooters all night long en route to a 61-40 Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 1 West victory at Southwestern Central School.

Hillbillies’ Davion White (23) is closely guarded by the Trojans’ Griffin Bogdanowicz. OBSERVER Photo by Matt Spielman

“That was an ultimate team win. Without the defensive effort from all five on the floor and the guys who were subbing in and out, we wouldn’t be able to come out of here with a win,” Fredonia head coach Nick Bertrando said. ” … We just really focused on the communication aspect, and the high activity and energy. I think that slowed down some of their offensive sets a little bit.”

Pannes scored 22 points, but as a team, the Trojans shot 16 of 64 from the floor, including just 5 of 32 from 3-point range.

“He was getting good looks early on. I thought we were getting good looks for our other guys … but they weren’t falling,” Southwestern head coach Aaron Emley said. ” … We won’t survive scoring 18 points in a half, and we came out flat again in the third quarter.”

Fredonia led 38-31 heading into the fourth quarter before Hillbillies junior Davion White started the period with a second-chance bucket and Hawk pushed the lead up to 11 when he scored inside.

“Their intensity was higher than ours most of the night, you could see it. You could feel it, almost from the opening of the game,” Emley said. “They came into our place, played harder, and wanted it more.”

Southwestern’s Matt Pannes shoots over Fredonia’s Davion White. OBSERVER Photo by Matt Spielman

Southwestern then attempted to send in a substitute after a missed 3-pointer when out of bounds, but still had six players on the floor when the ball was put back into play, resulting in a technical foul that gave the ball back to Fredonia. Hillbillies junior Mike Hahn knocked down both of the free throws to make it a 13-point game.

“We got a substitution technical and I’ve never even seen that before,” Emley said. ” … It was just dumb.”

Two minutes later, things went from bad to worse for the Trojans when Fredonia senior Ethan Fry was fouled on a drive to the basket. With Fry laying on the floor, a Southwestern player appeared to push one of Fry’s teammates on top of him, resulting in another technical foul. Fry knocked down all four free throws to make it 49-33 and the Trojans never recovered.

“We knew this environment was going to be phenomenal. The Fredonia-Southwestern head-to-head competition in all sports is alive and well,” Bertrando said. “I like to think the atmosphere from the Dunkirk game (Friday) helped us calm some of those nerves.”

The Hillbillies led 8-7 after the first quarter before Pannes gave Southwestern a 9-8 lead on the first possession of the second quarter. Fredonia sophomore Ashton Putney answered with a pair of 3-pointers and the Hillbillies eventually took a 23-18 lead into halftime.

“We don’t look at anybody by their grade level. We look at them as varsity-level players,” Bertrando said. ” … Everybody has certain strengths and certain roles. We embrace everybody’s role, allow them to live in that role, and flourish in those roles.”

Hahn hit a pair of 3-pointers during the third quarter, the one giving Fredonia a 34-26 lead with 1:59 remaining. Pannes answered with a 3-pointer and Connor Young gave the Trojans a 5-0 run, but Hawks scored on the final two possessions of the quarter as the Hillbillies led 38-31 with eight minutes to go in the game.

“Jay Hawk is the heart and soul of this team, not only his leadership vocally, but also to get after it,” Bertrando said. ” … Jay Hawk embodies that every single day.”

Fredonia (7-4, 2-1) will look to build on its two straight league victories when it travels to Allegany-Limestone on Friday while Southwestern (6-5, 2-1) will visit Salamanca that same night.

“Whenever you go into a game in this league and think you can just walk out there and teams will respect you because of your previous win, that’s when you get caught,” Emley said. ” … Fredonia could care less whether we won in Olean on Friday night or not. They came out and took it to us.”

NOTES: Fredonia shot 20 of 42 from the field, including 5 of 17 from 3-point range; went 16 of 22 from the free-throw line; and turned the ball over 19 times. White had 15 points and four steals; Fry had 14 points, six rebounds and two assists; and Hawk had 10 rebounds for the Hillbillies … Southwestern turned the ball over 11 times. Pannes had nine rebounds and Young had five steals for the Trojans. … Fredonia won the jayvee game 68-45. R.J. Koopman scored 27 points for the Hillbillies while Gavin Milner had 19 for the Trojans.

FREDONIA (61)

Hahn 2 2 8, Ferguson 0 0 0, Whitfield 0 0 0, Fry 3 7 14, Hester 0 0 0, Drummond 0 0 0, Putney 2 0 6, Tabone 1 0 2, White 6 3 15, Hawk 6 4 16, Riddle 0 0 0, Hall 0 0 0. Totals 20 16 61.

SOUTHWESTERN (40)

Tyger 0 0 0, Young 1 0 2, Pannes 8 3 22, Bogdanowicz 2 0 5, Hayes 1 0 3, Larson 0 0 0, Lemk 3 0 6, Kennedy 0 0 0, Miller 1 0 2, Work 0 0 0, Pike 0 0 0. Totals 16 3 40.

3-point goals–Hahn 2, Fry, Putney 2, Pannes 3, Bogdanowicz, Hayes.

Fredonia 8 15 15 23 — 61

Southwestern 7 11 13 9 — 40

Jayvees: Fredonia won 68-45.