The Pella Little Dutch used a third quarter comeback to beat Mount Pleasant in the 3A semifinals at the Boys State Basketball Tournament in Des Moines. The two teams played a close one earlier this season with Mount Pleasant winning by two. Yesterday, Mount Pleasant led most of the first half and got it out to a 10 point lead early in the third, but a couple of turnovers and layups got Pella going and they would take the lead with about 3-minutes left in the third and take a three point lead into the fourth. The Panthers had it to a two point difference with 4:19 to go but Pella went on a 14-2 run and got the win 55-42. For Mount Pleasant Henry Kreiger-Coble had 13 points and 11 rebounds, Nick Lyon off the bench had 10 points, Scott Hahn was held to six points. Mount Pleasant is now 22-2 and will play Davenport Assumption in the third place game.

In the other semifinal, Bishop Heelan earned a spot in the title game and a chance to defend their title by beating Assumption 46-45. With a one point Assumption lead Heelan got the rebound off a missed free throw and called a time out. Then Heelan’s Shane Graves hit a jumper with three seconds left to put his team in the final. The 3A championship game will be played tomorrow evening.

The 1A and 2A state championships will be played this evening. In the 1A final last year’s champions Rock Valley will meet Calamus-Wheatland. Rock Valley beat NU High out of Cedar Falls, the team they beat in the championship game last season, 39-31. Calamus-Wheatland got their spot with a win over Lynnville-Sully 57-55.

In Class 2A, Solon will have a shot to defend their title when they take on Western Christian Hull. These two teams had an epic battle in the semis last season going to two overtimes with Solon winning and moving on to beat Pella Christian in the championship game. Solon after holding off Mid-Prairie in the quarterfinals, beat IKM-Manning 42-34, while Western Christian Hull beat Kuemper Catholic out of Carrol l 64-57. Solon has a chance to do something a second time that before last year had never been done before in Iowa, that’s win the state football championship and basketball championship in the same school year.

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