CHESTERFIELD • Pesky and unrelenting, the Parkway Central boys basketball team topped Parkway North 47-45 on Friday, thanks to a mix of man-to-man and zone defenses.
Parway Central's Zach Biggs finished with a game-high 17 points, while Zach Carel chipped in with 13 and Eriq Moore added 11.
"That's a huge game for us," Biggs said. "Any time you play North, you want to win. It was a packed house and our blood was flowing. I told the team, the scary part about that game is that we can play even better than that."
Parkway North (16-5, 2-2) dropped its second league game of the week. Darrell Johnson led the Vikings with 11 points, while Aaron Hines chipped in 10.
Central (13-8, 3-1) led by three points going into the fourth quarter and pushed that lead to eight when Eriq Moore hit a 3-pointer with 3:58 to play to make it 40-32.
Hines made three free throws to make it 45-43, but Carel calmly nailed two free throws with 6.1 on the clock to secure the victory.
"Parkway North is our big rival," Carel said. "We know the guys both on and off the court. It's always a battle when we go in against them. Tonight, we played great on defense and got some key buckets in the end."
With Carel scooping up plenty of rebounds, Central built a 23-15 lead in the second quarter on a basic from Nathan Biggs. But a floater from Hines and a 3-pointer from Darryl Harmon put the Vikings back in it, trailing only 23-20 at halftime.
Parkway North ended the third quarter with a flurry when Donavin Newsom threw down a dunk and Johnson's bucket in the paint cut the Colts' lead to 33-30.
"Their two big boys inside are really strong," Zach Biggs said. "We knew we had to keep them off the boards and limit their touches."
The Vikings were 5-of-15 from free throw line, while the Colts were 9-of-20. Parkway Central entered the contest having lost three of their last four games.
"Offensively we struggled early, but we got it figured out," Parkway Central coach Todd Pannett said. "As long as we keep the energy there and we play with passion, heart and purpose, we'll be fine. We can be pretty good when we get everybody on the same page."
