On a night where so much was on the line, the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk boys basketball team relied on what had gotten them to this point, hard work in unseen hours, focus, teamwork and defense to down No. 7 River Valley North division champ Monticello 65-50 in the final contest of the 2021-22 regular season.

In front of an electric, standing room only crowd at Tim Grady Gymnasium, the two top teams slugged it out early with the game tied at 13 going to the second quarter. Mid-Prairie started the second frame with a 10-0 run that included holding Monticello scoreless for six minutes to take a lead they would never give up. The Hawks were up 28-20 at half and poured in 11 straight during one stretch of the third to grow the advantage to as many as 18. Down 14 going to the fourth, the Panthers made one last push, cutting the deficit to nine, but the Hawks got enough stops, key baskets and went five of six at the line late to finish the win. After the game, Mid-Prairie seniors Will Cavanagh, Carter Harmsen, Justice Jones, Ethan Kos and Jack Pennington joined the KCII postgame show to talk about the win.

Pennington said, “It’s amazing to see the community rally around us. The support has been great all year and tonight was just the cherry on top. The place is dead silent while we’re trying to shoot free throws, which is nice. Just take your time, relax and knock them down. This feels great! But as the team keeps saying, the jobs not done yet, we’re not finished.”

Jones added, “We focused on the defensive end. We knew if we played well on defense, the offense would come. (When the buzzer sounded) Finally, we have been waiting for this moment forever.”

Harmsen said “We studied this team this past week. We knew what we had to do to play good defense and we went out there and did that. We’ve worked on improving and finishing and I think we came out here and did that well tonight.”

Cavanagh added, “All year our goal has been to finish. We had a good little second quarter going and went into half with a lead. From there, you just have to buckle down, that’s a great team (Monticello), you know they are going to hit shots, but we were able to get the job done. Coach said, celebrate this weekend but come back on Monday ready for the next season in the playoffs. We’re happy with what we’ve done. We’re glad everyone’s enjoying it but, the jobs not finished.”

The Golden Hawks put three in double figures led by a career high 24 points from Pennington, Harmsen finished with 20 and Kos 10. In historical context, Friday’s win helped Mid-Prairie wrap up their first overall conference championship in 13 years, their last was a 2009 Cedar Valley Conference title. They tie the 1991 boys team for longest winning streak in school history at 21 games and best start to a season at 21-0, and they become the third team in Golden Hawk basketball history, boys or girls, to complete an undefeated regular season, joining only the 1991 boys and 2002 girls. The RVC Champion Hawks will next be on the floor for the playoffs. They begin the district tournament Thursday night against the winner of Mediapolis and Van Buren. You can hear last night’s game in the on-demand section of KCIIradio.com and follow the Golden Hawks playoff run, round by round, live on AM and FM KCII.