Mt. Pleasant boys run past Fairfield

MT. PLEASANT — The Mt. Pleasant boys basketball team has now went 5-0 through the first half of the Southeast Conference season. The Panthers knocked off Fairfield 64-43 on Friday night.

Fairfield stuck with the Panthers in the first half. The Trojans were within four points, at 14-10 after one quarter, and Mt. Pleasant’s lead was 31-20 at the half.

  Buy Photo

Fairfield, however, could never win a quarter. Mt. Pleasant scored a game-high 18 points in the third and never looked back.

“We came out of the gate like our shorts were on fire. It wasn't very pretty,” said Mt. Pleasant head coach Eric Rawson. “We slowed down a little bit there late. That was good to see.”

  Buy Photo

Payton Hagans led the Panthers with 25 points. He also finished with nine rebounds, five assists and three steals.

Noah Lange had 14 points and 10 rebounds. Nate Stroud finished with 14 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots. Christian Stacy had four points and five assists. Ian Reed had three. Avin Truong and Zachary Newton each scored two.

Eli Zillman had a big game off the bench for Fairfield, scoring 17 points. Riley Perkins had 11 points and five assists. Luke Konczal had six points. Sam Weaton scored three. Ethan Bisgard, Ryan Giberson and Axl Starr put up two each.

  Buy Photo

“We did better effort wise, but we continue to make the same mistakes,” said Fairfield head coach Nate Perkins. “We play about a half, and then we kind of lose our way in the second half. We're still trying to figure out how to be mature on the floor.”

Mt. Pleasant is now 7-3 overall and 5-0 in conference play. Fairfield is 1-10 and 0-5.

  Buy Photo