Washington Evening Journal
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Mt. Pleasant stays hot
Panthers drop Demons for 3rd-straight SEC win
Andy Krutsinger
Dec. 17, 2023 1:55 pm
WASHINGTON — The Mt. Pleasant boys basketball team has now won three-in-a-row in Southeast Conference play after a road win at rival Washington on Friday night.
The Demons gave the Panthers a sweat through three periods, but Mt. Pleasant won every quarter en route to a 70-53 victory, the Panthers’ third-straight win in the series.
“They're a quick team, and they've got guys who can shoot it,” said Mt. Pleasant head coach Eric Rawson. “Washington is always tough at home, and for us to go out on the road and get another 'W' is a feather in our cap.”
Mt. Pleasant held a steady lead throughout the game, but an outsized Washington team did make the Panthers work for the win. Mt. Pleasant’s lead never got too out of hand, as the Panthers were ahead 13-8 after one quarter, 33-24 at halftime and 49-39 after three quarters.
“It was awesome to see, especially in that first quarter,” said Washington head coach Collin Stark. “If you looked at our first conference game against Keokuk, compared to this one, both had a lot of size, and our guys have been improved on that.”
It wasn’t the much bigger Mt. Pleasant posts that gave Washington the most trouble. Instead, Panther guards Payton Hagans and Christian Stacy showed off all night, combining for an incredible 54 points in the win.
“It's a rivalry game, so you've got to be ready to go,” Hagans said. “They're going to give us their all, so we've got to give them ours.”
Hagans ended the night with 29 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Stacy finished with 25 points and four steals, and each hit three 3-pointers in the win.
“We really open the floor a lot for each other, because we both can penetrate, and we both can shoot it,” said Stacy. “He penetrates and they have to drop down because he's going to hit that layup, obviously. He kicks it out and that's an open three.”
Zachary Newton hit a couple of 3-pointers as well and finished with eight points. Nate Stroud had six points. Noah Lange finished the night with two points and a team-leading nine rebounds.
Washington’s Kael Williams scored 13 points to lead his team. Drew Conrad finished with 12. Rajan Roth scored 10. Logan McDole had nine. Roman Roth scored six, and Nic Stone finished with three.
Mt. Pleasant is now 4-3 overall and 3-0 in the SEC, tied with Keokuk atop the league. Washington lost 77-69 at Williamsburg on Saturday to drop to 3-5. The Demons are 1-2 in conference play.