Panthers knocked out in Fairfield

FAIRFIELD - Another bad third quarter spelled the end for the Mt. Pleasant boys' basketball team on Thursday night.

The Panthers played No. 5 Fairfield tough through two quarters once again, but again the wheels started to fall off in the third, and the Trojans pulled away for an eventual 51-30 win.

'We started out good in the first half and had a lot of energy,” said senior guard Tucker Johnson, who led the Panthers with 11 points. 'They came out with more energy in the second half, and it kind of fell away from us.”

The Panthers and Trojans were knotted up at 11-11 after one quarter, with a Mt. Pleasant layup knotting the game up before the buzzer. Fairfield took the lead back in the second quarter and held a 22-18 advantage at the half.

Mt. Pleasant did a good job early against Fairfield's bulky posts. Senior big man Riley McQuiggin was used early on to try and neutralize the Trojans.

For the third time in three games this season, Fairfield came roaring out of the halftime break. The Trojans outscored Mt. Pleasant 16-4 in the third quarter. Fairfield outscored Mt. Pleasant by double-digits in the third quarter in every matchup this season. After three periods, the score was 38-22.

The Panthers could never recover from the big Trojan run. Fairfield outscored Mt. Pleasant 13-8 in the fourth quarter, and that was all she wrote for the 2018-19 season.

'I thought it was quite a battle in the first half and we knew we were playing against a good team, and we knew we needed to limit some possessions,” Mt. Pleasant coach Caleb Akey said after the game. 'So in the first half we played a little slow, but we were only down four at the half, and then we came out and they switched defenses. We just weren't doing what we needed to do. To Fairfield's credit, they are really big and strong and they have good basketball players and that showed.”

Despite having almost a brand-new squad on the court this year, Mt. Pleasant finished 11-10 overall and second place in the Southeast Conference.

'We finished 11-10, so above .500 is always good,” Akey said. 'With a rookie coach and a bunch of rookie players, I couldn't be more proud of the effort they gave every single night.”

Fairfield moved on to play No. 6 Oskaloosa in the substate final on Monday, Feb. 25. That game will be played at Mt. Pleasant High School.