State basketball: it takes a town

At the Evans Middle School gym in Ottumwa, the Panthers defeated Centerville for a trip to the state tournament.

It was the third time in as many years that Coach Paul Rundquist led his team to a berth in Des Moines.

That feeling ? the excitement, satisfaction and anticipation ? of winning a substate game never gets old for the coach.

?Absolutely not,? Rundquist said.

Rundquist has been the head coach of the Mt. Pleasant boys? basketball team for 12 years. In those 12 years, he has coached his team in a substate game seven times. In the last three years, he has three substate wins. But before that, there were four substate losses.

?(Going to state) is something I always wanted to do as a player ? my father was my high school coach, and we always talked about that dream,? Rundquist said. ?(When I started coaching at Mt. Pleasant), we went to four substate finals and didn?t make it ? I was beginning to think it would never happen.?

And just like that, it did.

A talented junior class, featuring the likes of Darian Cotton, Scott and Eric Hahn and Henry Krieger-Coble, earned a state tournament berth in 2010, and took fourth place at the tournament.

The next year, the same group was the senior class, and they repeated the trip, claiming third place.

That third-place finish was Rundquist?s best as a coach, as well as the best that Mt. Pleasant has done at state since the Panthers won their second consecutive title in 1918, before the IHSAA took control of the tournament.

But then the heart of the team that had been to state twice graduated, and a new team took the floor.

The three seniors, who saw some varsity playing time last year, would be paired up with juniors who had been playing on the JV team. None of them had started a varsity game before.

But once they took the court, it was as if they had always played together.

?At the team camps (during the summer), that?s when it hit me that we had the ability to be a pretty good team,? Rundquist said. ?We played and competed well; we went undefeated at the UNI camp.?

Now, with a record of 23-1 going into the state tournament, this group of Panthers has shown everyone that they are, indeed, a pretty good team.

?That?s part of the program ? the kids allow themselves to be coached, and they really believe in what they are doing,? Rundquist said. ?One of the most difficult things as a coach is to get the kids to believe. And that comes from parents who believe in the program ? we have very supportive homes, a very supportive town.?

With two players standing at 6-7, the Panthers also have some intimidating height in the starting lineup.

?It?s unique (to have two guys that tall),? Runquist said. ?I ask a lot of Nick (Lyon) and Blake (Vandenberg) defensively,? Rundquist said. ?They?re often matched up against guys who are smaller than them, and I?ll say to them, ?Figure out how to guard him, because if that guy beats you to the basket, it will probably be embarrassing.??

The other senior on the team, Jordan Ashton, is a 6-3 starting point guard.

?He?s played varsity since his sophomore year,? Rundquist said. ?At that time, he was just a shooter. Now he has really developed into a scorer.?

His scoring has been key in Mt. Pleasant?s success this season ? he leads the Panthers with 18.4 points per game.

But there?s more to the team than just the three seniors.

?We are where we are because of the way the juniors have stepped up,? Rundquist said. ?It?s easy to focus on the three seniors, but we wouldn?t be here ? we wouldn?t be near here ? if the juniors hadn?t come into the season prepared.?

Cameron Frank, 6-2, is one of the junior starters, and he leads the team in both steals and assists.

?He?s a difficult matchup for teams,? Rundquist said. ?They often focus on the bigs (Lyon and Vandenberg) and on Jordan (Ashton), but he (Frank) will attack you. Honestly, he is the hardest working player I?ve ever had. You want good things to happen for the kids that are dedicated, but Cameron is also just a wonderful person. He really deserves it.

?This group of juniors has done a phenomenal job,? he continued. ?(Dalton) Conrad is asked to play point when Jordan (Ashton)?s out, and he really takes care of the basketball. (Ryan) Hanna can play inside and outside; (Connor) Shull has continued to improve all season ? he is really coming into his own, in a basketball sense.

?(Logan) Mulford is maybe the most surprising player. One game he scored 25 points. He has gained a lot of confidence defensively, and I think that has helped his offense. He?s always been a good shooter, but since we ask so much of him defensively, it takes the pressure off his offense.

?You can definitely look good as a coach when you have good players,? Rundquist said. ?It?s definitely the kids, not me.?

But it really is a team effort. It takes strategy from the coach, desire from the players, support from the parents and from the community.

?(My coaching style) changes every year,? Rundquist said. ?I have to try and find my players? strengths; our job as a coaching staff is to play to those strengths ? we can?t recruit kids into our system, like they do in college.

?It?s taken a while to get where we are. We ? have built a relationship with the Rec Center; we have the high school kids come and work at the basketball camps (for younger players).?

And the success goes beyond the players and coaches on the floor to the parents in the stands.

?I have to put a plug in for the parents,? he said. ?The parents give their kids this opportunity to play on summer circuits. The time (the players) put in over the summer on AAU circuits really helped them work on their skills.?

Now, those parents, along with other fans from the community, are ready to support their team for the third consecutive year at the state tournament. The school has sold nearly 1,000 state tournament t-shirts, as well as about 630 tickets to the tournament ? and tickets are still being sold.

?We?re not going up there to get eighth place,? Rundquist said. ?For us, it?s a business trip. We?re going to represent our school and our town, and do the best we can do.?