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Washington Evening Journal
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Panther boys on fire
Mt. Pleasant downs Washington, Mediapolis to run win streak to 5
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MT. PLEASANT — Don’t look now, but the once 3-7 Mt. Pleasant boys basketball team is above .500.
The Panthers continued to play some of the best basketball in Southeast Iowa this weekend, getting revenge over rival Washington with a 60-46 win on Friday night before pummeling Mediapolis 68-35 on Saturday.
Mt. Pleasant has now won five games in a row and seven of its last eight, and one could make an argument that each win gets more impressive than the previous.
On Friday night, the Panthers led coast-to-coast against a Washington team that had beaten Mt. Pleasant 55-47 earlier this year. This time, it was all Panthers, who led 16-5 after the first quarter, 30-19 at halftime and 44-31 after three en route to a double-digit SEC victory.
“We’re figuring it out,” said Mt. Pleasant head coach Eric Rawson. “We want to hammer the paint, and get it into the post, and we did a nice job with that.”
And indeed Mt. Pleasant did. It was another stellar game inside, especially for Isaiah Lange, who finished the night with 26 pointson 10-for-13 shooting and 6-for-6 from the free-throw line.
“We’re kind of on a roll right now, and I hope we can continue it,” Lange said. “Our chemistry is really good. We’re making the right passes, and we’re making the right plays.”
Ryan Helling had an efficient night as well, going 5-for-7 from 3-point land en route to a 15-point performance. Noah Lange had eight points. Aiden Humble finished with six. Brody Clark had three, and Keegan Heaton ended the night with two.
The Demons were led by a 14-point performance from Drew Conrad. Nic Stone ended the game with 12 points. Rajan Roth had eight. Tate Greiner scored seven, and Kael Williams finished with five.
“It just seemed like there were points left on the board,” said Washington head coach Collin Stark. “It was the tale of two games where last night (against Fairfield) it felt like everything was falling, and it just wasn’t there tonight.”
Another quality team met its demise in Mt. Pleasant less than 24 hours later, as the Panthers blasted Mediapolis 68-35 on Saturday afternoon. In that game, Mt. Pleasant rewrote the school record books, shooting 68.3% from the field, which broke a previous record set by the 2009-10 Panther squad, which shot 67.4% in a game against Fairfield.
Mt. Pleasant finished with a red-hot 78% effective field goal percentage, hitting 28-of-41 from the field and 8-of-16 from 3-point land.
Isaiah Lange led the way again, scoring 17 points and pulling down 10 rebounds. Helling had 14 points. Humble scored nine. Grayson Lowery put in eight. Noah Lange had seven. Brody Clark scored five. Kaden Shadt had four, and both Carter Gehling and Keegan Heaton finished with two.
Mt. Pleasant moved up to 8-7 overall with the win, while Washington fell to 10-6. Both teams are currently 4-4 in Southeast Conference play.
