Daily Newsletters
Account
Washington Evening Journal
111 North Marion Avenue
Washington, IA 52353
319-653-2191
Hagans’ 40-piece lifts Panthers
Mt. Pleasant senior explodes in 4th, anchors comeback win over Burlington
MT. PLEASANT — Mt. Pleasant senior Payton Hagans had has his share of explosive games, but Tuesday night’s was something special.
Just three games after joining the 1,000 career point club, Hagans had his highest scoring game yet, scoring 40 points in a wild 72-61 comeback win over Burlington.
Even more impressive, perhaps, is that 23 of those points came in the fourth quarter.
The Panthers entered the fourth quarter with their backs against the wall. Burlington led Mt. Pleasant 48-41 after the third horn. The Panthers were eight minutes away from dropping back into a three-way tie in the loss column of the Southeast Conference standings when Hagans’ takeover began.
After sitting out at the end of the third quarter with foul trouble, Hagans scored 10 points in the first two minutes of the final period, including a pair of go-ahead free throws with six minutes left in the game.
“We just knew we had to stay together and not fall down on each other,” Hagans said. “Basketball is a game of runs, so if I could catch fire and get the team going, I knew we could catch momentum and take the game over.”
And the barrage of points didn’t stop there. Hagans knocked down a big 3-pointer to put the team up by four, and he would go on to score 10 more points after that, as the Panthers turned a seven-point deficit into an 11-point win.
The Panther defense also stepped up in the fourth, holding Burlington to a game-low 13 points and forcing multiple turnovers down the stretch to further frustrate the Grayhound faithful.
“We went with some full court pressure and it sped them up a little bit,” said Mt. Pleasant head coach Eric Rawson. “They were unable to convert in the offensive end, and at the same time, we were pretty good with the basketball.”
Christiana Stacy added 18 points. Nate Stroud put up nine. Ian Reid finished with three, and Payson Coleman scored two.
The win brought Mt. Pleasant to 10-4 overall and 7-1 in conference play with games against Keokuk and Fairfield upcoming. If the Panthers can beat Keokuk (11-4, 5-2) on Friday night, Mt. Pleasant will clinch at least a share of the SEC title.
And a lot of that is thanks to one of the best performances in the history of Mt. Pleasant basketball.
“Payton can be really inspiring,” Rawson said. “He certainly had an inspiring game tonight.”
