It’s tough to beat a team three times. The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk boys basketball team experienced that first hand Monday night in the opening round of the Class 2A District tournament at Tim Grady Gymnasium in Wellman. After blowing out West Liberty by an average of 25 points in two regular season contests, it took a fourth quarter comeback to advance 75-67. Neither team held a lead of more than six in the first half with the Hawks on top 22-21 after the first and 34-33 at half. Out of the break, the Golden Hawks put in eight straight, to open an eight point advantage, only to see West Liberty counter with an 11-2 run and finish the period with a 54-51 lead going to the fourth. Backs against the wall, the Hawks came alive in the final eight minutes, pouring in 24 total points in the period, including four threes in the first three minutes. Mid-Prairie would wrestle the lead back during that run and put the game on ice at the line late. After the contest, Golden Hawk seniors Alex Bean and Camron Pickard joined the KCII postgame show to talk about the win.
Bean said, “Late, I think it was just trusting it, running our offense and moving the ball. Trusting our shots. Trusting each other. We got to the free throw line, knocked them down and finished strong. (At the line) I just take a deep breath, nothing to lose, if you miss it you miss it and just try to make it, that’s about it. (At the buzzer) I was relieved because it was a pretty close game. We just need to come ready to play Thursday.”
Pickard added, “(On the double double) It feels pretty good. I just have to give it to my teammates, they were hitting shots. On offense it’s really starting to click for all of us, Brady (Weber) and Ace (Peck), Beau (Flynn), everybody’s hitting their shots, (Alex) Bean. I thought we just played really well tonight shooting and that’s what we have to do to keep winning games. You have to be in that zone as one of the leaders of the team, me and (Alex) Bean. When it comes to playoff time, your best players have to make those shots and I have to thank my teammates again too because they made it pretty easy for me. We didn’t panic late, we just let game come to us and competed.”
The Golden Hawks shot a red hot 55% from the floor and hit 12 threes in the victory, going 11 of 13 at the line. They finished with 21 assists, 25 rebounds and 10 steals. A quartet reached double figures led by Pickard and Brady Weber each with 16 points. Pickard got to a double double with 10 assists. Ace Peck added 15 points and Bean 14. The win propels Mid-Prairie to 12-10, West Liberty ends their season at 7-15. The Hawks advance to the Class 2A District semifinals Thursday at River Valley South Division champion Wilton. Mid-Prairie lost both meetings with the Beavers in the regular season. You can hear all of the action live between the Hawks and Beavers Thursday on AM 1380, FM 102.5 and KCIIradio.com, beginning with the Washington HyVee Pregame Show at 6:30 and tip at 7p.m. from Wilton High School.