No. 9 Mt. Pleasant boys fall in OT

MT. PLEASANT — It wasn’t the easiest of situations on Tuesday night for the ninth-ranked (3A) Mt. Pleasant boys basketball team. The Panthers hosted a tough Pella squad, and they did so without leading scorer Payton Hagans, who was out with injury.

Despite it all, the Panthers nearly knocked off the Little Dutch, and they would have without a couple of clutch Pella free throws in the last second in regulation. The Dutch tied the game late and the Panthers lost 63-57 in overtime.

Pella’s Trey Van Hauen hit two free throws with just 0.5 seconds showing on the clock, tying the game up at 49-49 to send the game into overtime. Mt. Pleasant had taken a two-point lead thanks to a go-ahead free throw by Nate Stroud, and one more free throw by Carter Amos in the final 10 seconds.

In the overtime period, Pella started things out with a 3-pointer from the corner and nailed another on their very next possession.

Aaiden Ashton stepped up big time in the scoring column, scoring 30 points in the loss. He also brought down six rebounds. The only other scorer in double figures was Owen Vansickel, who had 12.

Strout finished the night with seven points and seven rebounds. Amos finished with four points. Drake Anderson and Noah Lange each scored two.

Mt. Pleasant is now 17-5 on the year, with four of their five losses coming by six points or less. The Panthers will host Fort Madison in the first round of the Class 3A Substate 6 tournament on Monday night.