Washington Evening Journal
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Panther boys hang on
Furious Wilton rally falls short as Mt. Pleasant wins 7th straight
Andy Krutsinger
Jan. 9, 2024 4:59 pm
MT. PLEASANT — What looked like a second-half blowout turned a little dicey for the Mt. Pleasant boys basketball team on Monday night, but the Panthers still prevailed in a non-conference clash with visiting Wilton.
Wilton made the long drive despite the snowy conditions, wanting to get in its first game of 2024 after a long wait. The Beavers took a while to get going, as Mt. Pleasant built a 17-10 lead after one quarter, but Wilton cut that advantage to 34-29 at the half, despite a 15-point half by Panther guard Payton Hagans.
“We finished the first half really strong,” said Mt. Pleasant head coach Eric Rawson. “Then we came out with a lot of energy in the third quarter.”
Mt. Pleasant dominated the third quarter. Led by a flurry of dunks from senior post Nate Stroud, the Panthers pummeled the Beavers 18-4 in the third period, and held a seemingly insurmountable 52-33 lead heading into the fourth.
“We did a lot of stuff that we’ve been practicing on,” said Stroud. “Just running offense more, using more of the shot clock and getting inside a lot, which is partially why I had a good game.”
Wilton never gave up. The Beavers used some high pressure defense and a few clutch shots from outside to cut the lead all the way down to two possessions.
“Things got a little weird for us in the fourth quarter,” Rawson said. “They hit some big shots. They’re a team that can really shoot the basketball, and they’re very athletic, so we knew they weren’t going to go away.”
The Beavers hit a couple of outside shots in the closing seconds to get the Panther advantage all the way down to four, but the buzzer sounded as the final shot went through the net and time ran out on the rally.
Hagans led the Panthers with 21 points on the night. Stroud finished with 19, and Christian Stacy scored 11.
Avin Truong put up six points on the night. Noah Lange had four. Ian Reid scored three, and Zachary Newton finished with two.
The Panthers, now 8-3 after a 1-3 start to the season, will put a 5-0 Southeast Conference record on the line against Burlington on Friday night. The Grayhounds come in 2-8 overall and 2-3 in conference play.
“We need to keep doing what we’re doing, work on the negatives and we’ll be fine,” Stroud said. “As long as we play our game and play under control, we should beat any team.”