Mt. Pleasant fades as Ottumwa surges to take 56-43 non-conference victory

CIML-Metro member Ottumwa brought their A-game to MPCHS last night for a non-conference tilt with Mt. Pleasant. MP played inspired basketball for much of the game but a defensive lapse in the third quarter that let the Bulldogs turn a 26-26 tie at half-time to a 36-26 advantage took the snap out of the Panther attack and Ottumwa went on win it, 56-43.

"They stepped it up a notch and blew right by us," said Panther coach Paul Rundquist.

The Panthers struck first and raced out to a quick 7-0 lead after A.J. Liechty finished off a traditional three-point play by taking a steal from under the Bulldog basket to the Panther board where he was fouled by Craig Martindale.

Mt. Pleasant stretched the lead to eight, 11-3, by attacking Ottumwa's collapsing man-to-man defense from the perimeter and slowing the Bulldog attack with a zone.

But the Bulldogs stepped it up a notch at that point and forced five Panther turnovers to cut the lead to one at the end of the first quarter 13-12. The last points of the period came when 6'5" center Darron Buxton scored an uncontested lay-up off an in-bounds play following Josh Nehring's first personal foul with just 4.6 ticks on the clock.

Ottumwa grabbed their first lead of the game, 20-18 when Buxton converted a two-and-one when he was fouled by Michael Letvin in the paint. Tyson Unkrich got the lead back for Mt. Pleasant, 25-24, at the one-minute mark when he connected on his only three-pointer of the game. Steven Wetrich grabbed the advantage back for the Bulldogs with a 12-foot jump off the right wing.

Wetrich ended up leading all scorers with 22 points.

Liechty had a chance to give the Panthers a one-point cushion at the half on a two-shot trip to the foul line with 8.1 seconds on the clock. Liechty missed on the first but connected on the second to end the first 16 deadlocked at 26-26. Liechty finished the first half with nine points.

Buxton, Wetrich, and Martindale combined for 10 unanswered points in the paint to start the second half while the Panther shooters went in the deep freeze. Liechty and Chad McMullin were both whistled for charging that nullified four Mt. Pleasant points, compounding the Bulldog surge.

The closest the Panthers could get after that was eight points as Ottumwa continued to dominate at both ends to go away with the 56-43 win.

Ty Christner led the Mt. Pleasant offense with 11 points, seven in the second half. Liechty finished with 10. Ottumwa out-rebounded the Panthers 22-18 with Liechty finishing with a team-high of five.