The Mid-Prairie boys and girls basketball teams suffered setbacks Monday night in a home makeup River Valley Conference doubleheader against the West Branch Bears. The Golden Hawk girls lost by a 74-27 score. Mid-Prairie scored the first give points of the game but West Branch answered with a 23-2 run and never looked back in route to the win. The Bears were up 35-18 at the half and opened the third quarter on a 14-0 burst to put the game out of reach. West Branch enacted the continuous clock early in the fourth. The Bears closed the game on an 18-0 run that spanned the entire fourth frame and outscore the Hawks 39-8 in total in the second half. Mid-Prairie was led by 10 points from Maddie Nonnenmann. The Golden Hawk girls are now 4-8 on the year.

The boys contest was an instant classic. Mid-Prairie fell to the top 10 ranked Bears in overtime 57-55 on a buzzer beater. The Hawks led throughout regulation, up 17-11 after one quarter, they put together a 12-4 run in the second to stretch the lead to as many as 17 at one point. At the half, the lead still stood at 12. In the second half, West Branch continued to inch closer, but the Hawks had answers with big shots and big plays, still up nine going to the fourth quarter. In the final period, the Bears closed with 21 points including three, three point goals from Simon Palmer off the bench, one of those coming in the games final 20 seconds to tie things at 51 and send it to overtime. In the extra period, offense was tough to come by, Mid-Prairie went the entire four minutes without a field goal, scoring four free throws. The Bears got all of their offense from Tanner Lukavsky who hit the game winner from the far wing on a fade away at 15 feet as time expired. After the game, Mid-Prairie head coach Daren Lambert talked about his team’s effort. “Defensively, we were able to keep them out of a rhythm. We told our guys, we aren’t going to be phased by their record, or their ranking, and we are going to come out and throw what we have at them and be who we are. Our guys took that challenge and did a great job. Offensively, we were very patient, and we have been talking about that. We aren’t satisfied. The feeling in the locker room isn’t a happy one over a moral victory. You can see and feel the hurt and the pain. On Tuesday, Tipton is going to get a very angry and hungry Mid-Prairie basketball team.”

The Hawks were led by 14 points each from Ethan Trimpe and Carter Harmsen, Brad Tornow added 11. With the loss, the Mid-Prairie boys fall to 3-8.