Mt. Pleasant, Xavier play for state

BY ANDY KRUTSINGER

Mt. Pleasant News

IOWA CITY ? Mt. Pleasant is one win away from its first trip to the state boys? basketball tournament since the 2012-2013 season.

Standing in the Panthers? way, however, are the No. 10 Cedar Rapids Xavier Saints, who MPCHS will play, tonight at 7 p.m., in Iowa City.

The Saints earned their way to the substate final with a 90-47 win over Williamsburg, and a 56-43 win over Clear Creek-Amana.

Mt. Pleasant punched their ticket by defeating conference rival Keokuk, 55-29, in their district semifinal and Ft. Madison, 48-31 in the district final.

The Panthers and Saints played in the season opener, a game where Xavier walked away with a 61-28 win.

In that game, Tanner Ruby, Colin Mulford, Jordan Magnani and Kieran Kohorst scored six points each to lead the team, and Brady Sartorius and Jonathan Ita added two each.

Senior star Mitchell Burger led the Saints with 14 points in the season opener.

Burger did not play in the district final against Clear Creek-Amana, on a coach?s decision, but there is no inclination on whether or not the starting guard will play tonight.

Since the opener, Mt. Pleasant has added junior post Pat Canby and an undefeated SEC championship to their resume. The Panthers have also won their last eight games, with only one of those wins coming by single digits.

Xavier, a school that plays mostly 4A teams throughout the year, finished the regular season on a six game losing streak. Five of those losses were against 4A teams and one was at Dubuque Wahlert, the second-ranked team in 3A.

Mt. Pleasant and Xavier have one thing in common. All of their losses have come to 4A teams or state-ranked 3A teams. The Panthers come into the substate final at 18-5, and the Saints enter the game at 15-8.

Sartorius has led the Panthers in their first two postseason wins, scoring 23 points against Keokuk and 19 against Ft. Madison.

Kieran Kohorst has reached double digits in both games, tallying 13 points and nine rebounds against the Chiefs, and 11 points and 11 rebounds against the Bloodhounds.

Sophomore Matthew Mims led Xavier with 18 points during their district semifinal win against Williamsburg, and had 15 points against Clear Creek-Amana.

Junior Nolan Butkowski led the Saints with 16 points against CCA after scoring just two points against Williamsburg.

Key to the game: Mt. Pleasant will look to slow the game down against Xavier?s high-octane attack. The Panthers have been one of the best defensive teams in the state this season, giving up just 966 total points this year, by far the lowest in Class 3A.

Three-point land: Xavier is a top five three-point shooting team in Class 3A. The Saints have made 20 three-pointers in their two postseason games so far. The Mt. Pleasant defense has given up just seven total threes in their district wins.

Panther shooting: Mt. Pleasant went 11-41 against Xavier in their season opener, one of their worst shooting performances of the season. By contrast, the Panthers went 14-28 in their district semifinal win against Keokuk, and 19-34 in the district final win over Ft. Madison.

Charity stripe: If the game comes down to free throws, Mt. Pleasant should have the advantage. The Panthers have made 72.8 percent of their free throws this season, compared to Xavier, who has made just 67.3 percent of theirs.

Game time: The Panthers and Saints will tip off today (Mon.) at 7 p.m., at Iowa City West High School.

UPDATE: Jeff Johnson of the Cedar Rapids Gazette is reporting via Twitter that Xavier star Mitchell Burger will not play tonight (Mon.) in the substate final against Mt. Pleasant.