Mount Pleasant ends 94-year state title drought

DES MOINES ? Draped in a banner and raising their championship trophy, the Panthers celebrated Mount Pleasant?s first state title in boys? basketball since 1918 on Saturday night before fellow students, friends, family and fans at Wells Fargo Arena.

The Panthers conquered Western Dubuque (Epworth) with a thrilling, 66-62 win in double overtime.

?It?s awfully amazing ? you saw the support out there in maroon and gold,? Mount Pleasant coach Paul Rundquist said. ?We?re extremely excited to bring a trophy home to Mount Pleasant.?

With 11.9 seconds left in overtime, however, things weren?t looking quite so bright for the Panthers.

Up to that point, Mount Pleasant had led by as many as 13 points, when senior Jordan Ashton, who finished with a team-high 20 points on the night, put in a shot from behind the arc with 4:21 left in the second quarter. The Panthers went into halftime with a 28-22 lead, and stretched that lead back to 10 points (44-34), by the end of the third quarter.

But in the final quarter of the game, with Ashton and fellow senior Nick Lyon taking turns on the bench due to foul trouble, Western Dubuque made its run.

?Coach tells us that teams make runs, and we have to respond to them,? senior Blake Vandenberg said. ?Anything can happen, you just have to keep going.?

?We knew they were going to make a run ? we talked about that at halftime,? Rundquist said. ?I was very interested to see how we would handle adversity.?

After two Cameron James free throws with 1:35 left to play, the Bobcats had tied it up at 49.

After the second free throw, Dalton Conrad came into the game to replace Ashton, who limped off the floor.

?I was cramping pretty bad in both of my thighs,? Ashton said.

While he stretched behind the bench, the star guard could only watch as the Panthers held for one shot. Conrad drove into the lane, dished the ball to Vandenberg, and the 6-7 senior put up a last-second, off-balance jumper.

It bounced out.

The Panther crowd, which seemed to be collectively holding its breath, deflated a bit as the game went into overtime.

?It was pretty crazy,? Ashton said. ?I knew ? I would have to go back in.?

Ashton did rejoin his team on the floor when the extra four minutes started, but he didn?t stay there long.

Lyon scored first in overtime on a free throw, but the surging Bobcats soon took control, going up 53-50 on a Dylan James layup and two free throws by TJ Lake.

Vandenberg responded with a layup for the Panthers.

However, on the next trip up the court, Ashton committed his fifth foul, taking him out of the game for good. After a Panther timeout, Lake hit two more free throws to give the Bobcats a three-point advantage.

The Panthers were running out of time. The Bobcats forced a turnover, and the Panthers were forced to foul, sending Lake to the line yet again, with Western Dubuque still up 55-52.

The clock glowed a warning to the Panthers: 11.9 seconds left to play.

?We have one of the leading Class 3A scorers on the bench, and I was sure he (Lake) was going to make those free throws,? Rundquist said. ?I said to the team, ?Whether we?re down by three or five, get the ball to Dalton (Conrad).??

Lake?s first shot was no good ? it was only the second free throw he?d missed all game. Then, the second one bounced off the rim and into the hands of Mount Pleasant?s No. 1 rebounder, Vandenberg.

He passed to Conrad, who took it up the court.

?Coach told me during the timeout that I was taking the shot,? Conrad said. ?I was nervous, but I just dribbled down, found an open spot and pulled up.?

Swish.

With a hand in his face and the pressure of the entire season resting on his shoulders, the Mount Pleasant junior sank the last-chance, 3-point shot that tied the score at 55.

?It was a big momentum booster,? Lyon said. ?After he made that, we were like, ?We can win this.??

?Momentum is huge in basketball,? Rundquist said.

Western Dubuque couldn?t do anything with the final five seconds, and the game went into a second overtime.

Reenergized, Mount Pleasant watched James score on a free throw for the first lead of overtime before taking back the game, led by Vandenberg.

The senior?s and-one layup put the Panthers ahead by two.

Lyon ? who played both overtime periods with four fouls ? grabbed a rebound after James missed a jump shot. Lyon and Conrad pushed the ball past Western Dubuque?s press. Vandenberg got the ball under the Mount Pleasant basket and went up for a dunk, which bounced out. He jumped up to tip it in, but that was also off the mark. On the third try, the ball fell through the net, and the Panthers went up 60-56.

?I told Blake, ?I?m on the bench, and we?re the seniors ? you gotta step up,?? Ashton said. ?I told the team, ?I want you to get every rebound,? because I knew they could do it.?

In the last two minutes, Lyon, Conrad, Logan Mulford and Cameron Frank took turns on the free throw line, putting in six of 12 shots down the stretch ? not a great percentage, maybe, but good enough to hold on to the lead.

With only nine seconds left and the score standing at what would be the final, 66-62, Logan Pitz missed a layup for the Bobcats. The ball got loose and went rolling across the floor, where Mulford recovered it and secured the victory.

The buzzer went off, but its sound was lost among the roar of fans ? a roar that had been building for 94 years.

Ashton, no longer feeling the cramp in his thighs, shot off the bench to tackle Mulford, and the rest of the team soon piled on.

Frank and Lyon met in a mid-air embrace, as Rundquist jumped into the arms of assistant coach Caleb Akey.

Like his players, the head coach was celebrating his first-ever state championship.

Rundquist never got a chance to win a title as a player at Maquoketa Valley High School, where he was coached by his father, Gordon Rundquist.

This year, both father and son got to celebrate a championship ? Paul with the Panthers, and Gordon as assistant coach of the 4A champions, Iowa City West.

Slowly, the Mount Pleasant players were pulled away from their celebration to shake hands with the Bobcats.

?I have a lot of compassion for Coach (Dennis) Geraghty,? Rundquist said. ?I feel for him ? he is deserving. It?s very humbling for me. That?s a very good team we just beat.?

Then both teams gathered near center court to accept their trophies.

?This has been our dream for a long time,? Ashton said. ?This is huge.?

The Panthers have fallen short in the tournament for the last two years, when they took fourth and then third in Des Moines.

?It?s crazy,? Conrad said. ?The last two years, the teams were pretty amazing. We just played really good team basketball, and we won it.?