The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk boys basketball team starts the district tournament Monday night when they welcome the West Liberty Comets to Tim Grady Gymnasium in Wellman. The Golden Hawks come into the playoffs with an 11-10 overall record after winning an 80-73 overtime thriller against Fairfield last Tuesday. Mid-Prairie was 6-6 in the River Valley Conference. The Hawks score 61 points per game and give up 59, shooting 38% from the floor, 30% from three and 70% from the free throw line with 31 rebounds, 12 assists, nine steals and 11 turnovers per game. Individually, Camron Pickard puts up 15 points and three assists per game. Alex Bean averages five boards and two steals per night.

West Liberty is 7-14 on the year, 3-10 in the RVC. They beat Anamosa Friday to close the regular season 56-44. On the season, the Comets score 51 points per game and give up 58, shooting 43% from the field, 28% from three and 57% at the line with 21 rebounds, 11 assists, nine steals and 16 turnovers per game. Individually they are led by Jayce McHugh with 15 points, five boards and three steals per night. This week, Golden Hawk head coach Daren Lambert talked about getting his team ready for the playoffs and their keys to success. “It comes down to just fine-tuning those little things, and maybe throw in a wrinkle here and there. Get some rest. Get our legs back underneath of us. Get better day-by-day. It’s one of those things where you get reminded of last year, how exciting the postseason can be, so keeping guys focus is at the top of the priority list.”

The Hawks swept the Comets this year by 71-41 and 65-44 scores and have won 15 straight in the series. You can hear all of the action live tonight from Tim Grady Gymnasium in Wellman, on AM 1380, FM 102.5 and KCIIradio.com, beginning with the Washington HyVee Pregame Show at 6:30p.m. and tip off at 7.