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Washington Evening Journal
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Panthers notch first SEC victory with win over Grayhounds
Mt. Pleasant outscores Burlington 40-19 between second and third quarter
BURLINGTON — Mt. Pleasant boys basketball started its back-to-back Southeast Conference championship run off right on Friday night as the Panthers grabbed their first SEC win of the season, 65-53 over Burlington.
It wasn’t an easy one for the Panthers and the Grayhounds came to play early.
Burlington and Mt. Pleasant traded the lead three times in the opening period. With just under two minutes to go, Burlington buried back-to-back threes to give them a 12-8 advantage.
Mt. Pleasant senior Nate Stroud answered back to make it a one score game with around a minute to go, but the Grayhound’s Cameron Horn hit a three at the buzzer to make it a four point game once again, 15-11.
To the Panthers’ favor the game shifted over the next two quarters.
For over four and a half minutes in the second, the Panthers held the Grayhounds to just two points.
Meanwhile, the Panthers went on to score 11 points during that span to build a 22-17 lead. Mt. Pleasant would never trail the rest of the way out.
In the second, Mt. Pleasant went on to outscore Burlington 22-10. Senior Payton Hagans shot a whopping 11 free throws through eight minutes and helped the Panthers to a 33-25 halftime lead.
The third quarter was much of the same.
Burlington scored two points right out of the gate, but Mt. Pleasant delivered 14 unanswered capped off by a Hagans converted and one to make it 47-27.
The Grayhounds ended with a little 7-4 run, but the Panthers held a commanding 51-34 lead.
In the fourth, Mt. Pleasant did what it needed to do to win it. Burlington came as close as 10 twice and outscored Mt. Pleasant 19-14, but the Panthers were stellar down the stretch.
Hagans led the Panthers with 29 points in the win. He also went 15-for-20 at the stripe. Christian Stacy had 11 points and seven rebounds. Avin Truong scored seven, Ian Reid six, Nate Stroud and Zach Newton five, along with two from Noah Lange and eight boards.
The Panthers played host to West Burlington on Saturday. They came up short in that matchup, 56-54.
Mt. Pleasant is now 1-2 on the season and 1-0 in SEC play.
