Thursday was a tough night at Tim Grady Gymnasium in Wellman for the home teams as the top ten ranked West Branch boys and girls invaded town and swept the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk basketball teams. In a doubleheader heard on AM and FM KCII, the night opened with the No. 3 West Branch girls scoring a 60-31 win. Mid-Prairie hung around early, down 13-8 after the first quarter, but the Bears led 32-15 at half, thanks to a 15-4 second quarter burst. West Branch stretched the advantage further with a 14-2 run during the third quarter and Mid-Prairie would get no closer late. The Bears put four in double figures with Rylan Druecker scoring 19 to lead the way. Mid-Prairie was led by Phelan Hostetler’s 15 points, Maddie Nonnenmann scored 13. The Golden Hawks are 10-11 on the year, West Branch is 17-1.

In the nightcap, West Branch got a buzzer beater to knock off Mid-Prairie on the road for the second straight year as Thomas Gould delivered a jumper and a 50-48 win. West Branch controlled the game early, racing out to a 19-9 lead at the end of the first quarter and would push the advantage to 16 by midway through the second frame. Mid-Prairie counter punched with 14 straight points late in the quarter and was down just four going to half. The Golden Hawk run continued in the second half with Mid-Prairie catching the Bears at 33. The two teams traded blows from there with no side holding a lead larger than six the rest of the way. West Branch was on top by two going to the fourth. The Golden Hawks held their only lead late 46-45 on an Aidan Rath layup. Each team had a chance at a final shot in the last 30 seconds of regulation but both teams committed turnovers before the Bears got the circus shot from Gould with one second on the clock. After the game, Mid-Prairie head coach Daren Lambert talked about the contest. “Aidan Rath can take over a game and it seems like West Branch is who he does it against. Alex Bean and Will Cavanagh did a great job knocking down shots early in the game to keep us in it. Our mentality this time around against them late was much different and that shows the growth and maturity of this team. It was a devastated locker room and my heart breaks for those guys. Tonight we wanted to go in and be aggressive. We weren’t going to be back down or be intimidated by their stats, accolades or record. We think we are pretty talented ourselves, and we showed that tonight. First thing out of my mouth in the locker room after the game was that I am extremely proud to be their coach.”

Gavin Hirseman led West Branch with 13 points, Aidan Rath had 14 for Mid-Prairie, Will Cavanagh 11. The Bears are 17-1 on the season, Mid-Prairie falls to 13-7.