Demons down Panthers, 55-54

MT. PLEASANT - The Washington and Mt. Pleasant boys basketball teams were expected to put on quite the show on Friday night, and they did not disappoint. In yet another Southeast Conference thriller, the Demons held off Mt. Pleasant 55-54 to regain soul possession of first place in the league. After not scoring in the first three quarters, Washington's Kasen Bailey was the hero down the stretch, scoring 13 points in the final quarter, including the game-icing free throw in the final seconds.

Mt. Pleasant led 12-11 after the first quarter, getting four points each from Jaxon Hoyle, Brevin Wilson and Clayton Lowery in the opening period. Ethan Patterson knocked down two threes in the opening minutes and led all scorers with six points after eight minute of play.

The Demons grabbed the lead early in the second quarter and refused to let it go. Trevor Quigley scored six points and Patterson added four more as Washington went into the locker rooms with a 24-20 lead.

Mt. Pleasant came out of halftime ready to go. Brevin Wilson scored five points, including a fastbreak dunk, and the Panthers put the pressure back on Washington, leading 33-32 after three quarters.

'During that third quarter, I thought Mt. Pleasant had the momentum,” said Washington head coach Colin Stark. 'Nothing was falling. It seemed like we were playing how they wanted, a little slower, and we kept it close. We just knew at that point. Our talk in the huddle was, ‘We've taken their hit, and now we've got to make one of our own.'”

When the fourth quarter started, it was time for Washington's leading scorer to step up. Bailey had been shut out offensively all night, but erupted for 10 points in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter, which helped Washington grab the first double-digit lead of the game, at 47-37.

'I had some foul trouble and they took me out right away,” Bailey said. 'My teammates really stepped up and made the plays, and I just tried to do what I could ... I was just trying to block everything out and shoot like normal.”

The Demons led by as much as 13 in the fourth period, but Mt. Pleasant scrapped back in the final minutes. The Panthers forced a handful of Demon turnovers and cut the lead down to three points in the final 10 seconds.

Bailey was fouled with 7.8 seconds left and went to the line for two free throws. He hit one of two, which iced the game, as Mt. Pleasant was out of timeouts. Panther point guard Kieran Kohorst ruhsed down and hit a three-pointer with one second left to cut the Demon lead to one, but Washington was able to let the final second run off without inbounding the ball.

'It was just one of those up and down games,” said Mt. Pleasant head coach Caleb Akey. 'They struggled scoring for a while, we struggled scoring for a while. They went on a stretch where they were scoring, and then we had our stretch later. We were down 10 with four minutes to go or whatever and were able to battle back, so I'm really proud of our guys for being able to battle back.”

Patterson led the Demons with 15 points on the night. Bailey's 13 went for second best on the team. Trevor Quigley had eight. Trashaun Willis scored seven. Brock Sobaski had six. Luke Tuern scored three. Ethan Hunt had two, and Lucas Kroll scored one.

Hoyle finished with 15 points to lead Mt. Pleasant. Wilson and Lowery had 12 each. Kohorst scored 10, and Brody Bender ended the night with five.

Washington is now 9-3 overall and 5-1 in the SEC, one half game above Keokuk, who had their game against Ft. Madison postponed. Mt. Pleasant is now 8-7 after a 76-58 loss to indianola on Saturday. They sit in third place in the SEC with a 4-3 record.

'Our conference doesn't get enough credit,” said Stark. 'Every game, you've got to grind. You've got to play your best night in and night out. This was a great ballgame. A great high school basketball game, and it was a joy to be a part of it.”