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Washington Evening Journal
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Panther’s home opener spoiled by Warriors
Mt. Pleasant comeback bid falls short in season opener against Cedar Rapids Washington
MT. PLEASANT — Monday night marked the beginning of the 2023-24 basketball season for the Mt. Pleasant boys.
The Panthers opened the season at home against the Warriors of Cedar Rapids Washington.
It ended up being a tough beginning to the season as when the final horn rang, Cedar Rapids Washington had just edged the Panthers 68-57.
Mt. Pleasant opened the scoring on a free throw from Nate Stroud, but the Panthers would never lead again the rest of the way.
Cedar Rapids Washington rattled off eight straight to make it 8-1 before extending that lead to 17-8 with 1:52 remaining in the first period.
The Panthers didn’t go down without a fight. A three ball from Avin Truong kicked started what would be a 8-2 run to the end of the quarter.
Mt. Pleasant had it at one, 17-16, before the Warriors dropped in a bucket with four seconds on the clock. Heading into the second, Mt. Pleasant trailed 19-16.
The following quarter proved to be the least efficient of the evening.
It took the Panthers nearly four minutes to find a point and by that time, the Warriors scored eight of their own.
Despite the scoring woes, Mt. Pleasant found itself down just nine, 27-18.
Over the course of the next three minutes, CRW outscored the Panthers 7-2 to notch their largest lead up until that point, 34-20.
Back-to-back buckets from Stroud and Christian Stacy cut it back to 10 before the half as the Panthers faced a 34-24 deficit.
The offensive struggled continued into the third for the Panthers as the Warriors built their largest lead of the night, an 18 point advantage at 44-26.
From then on, Mt. Pleasant had a little spurt as they scored eight straight points to get back within 10, but once again a big end to the quarter extended the Warriors lead.
After two unanswered two’s from the CRW, Payton Hagans drilled a three to get the Panthers within 11 in the final minute, but after converting the first of two free throws and then pulling down and scoring on an offensive board with just over 35 seconds remaining, the Warriors held a 51-37 lead heading into the final quarter of action.
In the fourth period, Mt. Pleasant gave CRW all they had but it wouldn’t be enough.
A monstrous two handed slam from Stroud kicked started what would be a 14-7 run for the Panthers and after a two from Hagans Mt. Pleasant was as close as they were since the beginning of the second quarter, 58-51.
After a pair of missed free throws from the Warriors with just over three minutes to go, Stacy pulled Mt. Pleasant even closer as he made it a six point game on back-to-back twos, 61-55.
While the Panthers showed a lot of fight, the comeback couldn’t be completed as time wasn’t on the Panther’s side and CRW knocked down their foul shots in the final minute.
Hagans led the Panthers with 24 points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals. Stroud finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and two steals. Stacy followed with 13 points, three steals and two assists. Avin Truong had three points and Noah Lange finished with two.
Mt. Pleasant drops to 0-1 on the season and will kick off Southeast Conference action on Friday against Burlington.
