MP freshmen split games with Trojans

The Mt. Pleasant freshman basketball team played against two Trojan teams over the weekend: the Panthers defeated Fairfield handily on Friday night, but both the ?A? and ?B? teams fell to Iowa City West on Saturday.

Against Fairfield, the Panthers had only a narrow lead at the end of the first quarter, 7-6, and were down 15-11 at halftime.

However, they came back with a huge second half, scoring 14 points in the third quarter and 18 in the fourth while holding their SEC rivals to only seven points in the last two quarters combined.

The 43-22 decision was the Panthers? first win of the season.

Keegan Pullis put up 15 points to lead Mt. Pleasant, and Joe Hess added 13.

Alex Carrasco chipped in six points, Dylan Bloom contributed four, Jack Davis tallied three, and Darren Hunter scored two for the Panthers.

At Iowa City West, the Trojans posted 22 points on the board in the first quarter while holding the Mt. Pleasant A team scoreless.

Things didn?t improve for the Panthers, who dropped a 64-29 decision.

Tyler Batten scored a team-high nine points for the Panthers; Hess added seven and Carrasco posted five. Pullis tallied four points while Hunter and Warren Krieger-Coble each chipped in two points.

In the B game, the Trojans downed Mt. Pleasant once again, this time by a score of 36-15.

Derek Braun scored five for the Panthers. Alex Rauscher, Ronnie Anderson, Cori Fitten, Batten and Krieger-Coble scored two points apiece.

The team will play again on Friday, kicking off a freshman/JV/varsity tripleheader against Keokuk at 4:45 p.m. in Mt. Pleasant.