GLENBURN - When Houston Lavachek was on the floor Friday night, there wasn't a thing Tioga could do to stop him.
Glenburn's 6-foot-6 senior forward tallied 32 points in the Panthers' 55-34 Class B basketball win. To help matters, he pulled down 10 boards and blocked six shots.
It was the first matchup between the teams since Lavachek dropped 50 on the Pirates a year ago. New season, no new answers.
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Adam Lawson/MDN
Glenburn senior Houston Lavachek tries to drive by Tioga junior Ryan Nielsen in the Panthers’ 55-34 home win on Friday night.
"How do you game plan against something you don't see (but) maybe once a year," Tioga coach Justin Nelson said. "We don't have anything like that, so it's hard to scrimmage in practice for anything else like that. He's a great athlete."
The Panthers (1-0) scored the game's first six points, including back-to-back dunks from senior guard Tyler Simpson and Lavachek. Tioga (0-1) got on the board with a Brady Thompson bucket. Then Lavachek, guarded for most of the night by 6-foot-2 freshman Steffan Stubbs, scored seven straight to widen the gap.
It was that type of night for the reigning all-region player.
"I know when to go," Lavachek said. "I don't force the pump fakes when they give them to me. I just do what I can do."
After the quick spurt, Glenburn's offense - outside of Lavachek - gradually slowed down. The Panthers made just three shots from the field in the second quarter and hit just five a frame later.
Turnovers also plagued Glenburn for the majority of the game.
"Offensively, we've got a long ways to go," Panthers coach Larry Derr said. "We're not anywhere near where we want to be. ... Too many careless turnovers and we're not very strong with the ball. We're pretty weak right now. Our kids don't understand how to get in triple-threat yet and when we do that, I think we'll be a lot better off."
Glenburn got to the foul line frequently in a choppy fourth quarter. The Panthers were nine of 10 from the stripe in the final period.
Panthers freshman Dustin Weeks had seven points and a team-high 12 rebounds. Glenburn plays today at Powers Lake.
Brady Thompson and Kass Longie had nine points each to pace the Pirates, who play Wednesday at Burke County.