Mid-Prairie falls to Clear Creek-Amana, Solon

The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks boys? basketball team fought hard in the last week of the season before Christmas break. However, the Golden Hawks lost both of their road games.

The Golden Hawks? first game of the week was Tuesday against Clear Creek-Amana, which they lost 59-40. The second game was Thursday against Solon. Solon was victorious, 63-27.

Golden Hawk head coach Don Showalter said his team got off to a slow start against Clear Creek-Amana.

?We dug ourselves a hole to start the game and recovered somewhat in the third quarter,? he said. ?We just can?t get down by 8-10 points early and then try to crawl back in the game. Our young team is not at the point yet where we can recover from slow starts which means we need to start the game with more intensity.?

Clear Creek-Amana had not won a game since the start of the season. Four of the team?s starters had sat out the whole season. Unfortunately for the Golden Hawks, two of those starters were back on the court Tuesday and accounted for 37 points combined.

?We obviously have trouble scoring and this will come around after the break,? Showalter said. ?I have a lot of confidence in our young team to get better at their shooting as they are working hard to improve. The one thing that I really liked about our players is the attitude with which they came out in the third quarter.?

The Golden Hawks trimmed the deficit to 7 points midway through the third quarter. However, Mid-Prairie missed a chance to capitalize on some crucial possessions while CC-A broke free for a few easy layups.

?In that third quarter, Jaemin Powell hit some big 3 point shots for us and Alex McKee-Crow and Nick Stimson added some timely hoops for us, too,? Showalter said. ?We continue to improve with our great work ethic and coachability from each of our players.?

Showalter said that it was clear from the opening tip against 3A Solon that the Golden Hawks would have their hands full.

?Solon pretty much dominated us in all categories but that does not mean we didn?t hustle and scrap for everything we could get on the court,? he said. ?I was proud of our effort even though we were down a bunch early. We continued to battle for rebounds, took some charges and got on the floor after some loose basketballs for extra possessions.?

The Golden Hawks scored more points in the third quarter than they did in the entire first half. Showalter said Ryan Hoffman and Elliot Runciman gave the team very good minutes and energy off the bench. He said Spencer Shalla was more active, which was evident in his rebounding ability.

?Canaan Powell grabbed some rebounds against a much taller Solon team and may have had one of his best all around games,? said the coach. ?Even though our guards struggled at times against the pressure defense of Solon, I thought Reid Miller and Austin Errthum gave a great effort and kind of grew up tonight. For sophomores, Miller, Errthum, Powell, Shalla, Nathan Faselt and Nick Stimson have come a long way so far in our tough games before Christmas. I am pleased with our effort and the fact we are working hard to become a better team in spite of our record.?

Showalter said much of the credit goes to the lone returning starter from last season, Powell.

?He has provided a very positive influence on our sophomore and juniors which will make these young players very good at some point,? he said.

Showalter said Mid-Prairie has had a tough first half to the season with a slew of 3A opponents in Washington, Clear Creek-Amana and finally Solon. All of those games were played on the road.

?Combine that with the Class 2A rated teams at the time we played them in West Branch, Regina and Mediapolis and this has been an extremely difficult set of games before the Christmas break,? he said. ?But our players will continue to work hard and get better over the break.?

The Golden Hawks are now 1-7 overall.