MP boys fall short against Keokuk.

The Mt. Pleasant boys just couldn't bounce back from a rough second quarter on Friday night. The Panthers fell 54-51 in their home game against Keokuk after a late rally fell short.

Mt. Pleasant led the game 9-8 after one quarter, getting five players into the scoring column early. Keokuk put up 19 points in the second quarter, though, and grabbed a 27-21 advantage before halftime.

Jaxon Allen, who scored six points in the second quarter, added five more in the third to pace the Panthers early in the second half. Hoyle had 11 points after three quarters and the Panthers cut the Cheifs' lead by one point, trailing 37-32 after three.

Keokuk clung onto a small lead throughout the fourth quarter. Mt. Pleasant used a pressure defense and a handful of fouls late in the game to trim the Cheifs' lead down to one possession, but the Panthers were never in a spot to tie or take the lead.

'We wanted to foul them and get them at the free throw line (but) we didn't do it every time,” Mt. Pleasant head coach Caleb Akey said after the game. 'We did that, and trimmed into the lead a little bit. They had the opportunity to come down and play without us fouling, and we had a great stop, and the next thing you know they had an offensive rebound.”

The Panthers had trouble keeping Keokuk off the offensive boards all night, and also had some trouble hitting shots from the outside. Mt. Pleasant went 2-10 from behind the three-point line, and one of those two was a buzzer beater by Tucker Johnson that cut the lead down to three right before the buzzer.

Hoyle led the squad with 13 points on the night. Sam Beatty had 11 points, and Rhett Zeglehn put up 10 points to give the Panthers three double-digit scorers.

Johnson finished the night with eight points and two steals. Keegan Kohorst had five points, four assists and two steals. Both Clayton Lowery and Brody Bender finished with two points off the bench.

Mt. Pleasant fell to 6-8 overall and 2-4 in the Southeast Conference. The Panthers will head to Ft. Madison on Friday, Jan. 25, where they will attempt to get revenge for a heartbreaking one-point loss at the end of December. The Bloodhounds beat the Panthers on a four-point play at the buzzer in one of the craziest finishes of the year.”

'I think I hold on to that stuff more than the kids do,” Coach Akey says. 'It's such an easy-going group, and they just move on to the next (game). I'm the one who's still kind of reeling from it, but unfortunately I don't get to play, so I'll try to pass that intensity on.”