The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk boys basketball team begins the tournament trail tonight when they host Mediapolis in the semifinal round of Class 2A District 9. The Golden Hawks are 17-4 this year, finishing 10-2, second in the River Valley South Division. They have been off since a February 11th home win over Fairfield 68-59 where Bryce Henry led with 19 points. This season, the Hawks score 68 per game and give up 55 on 44% shooting, 35% from three and 71% at the line with 32 rebounds, 13 assists, eight steals and 13 turnovers per game. Individually, Henry is the leader at 22 points per game and is tied with Conner Wiles at five boards per night. Brady Weber adds a team best four assists and two steals per game.
Mediapolis is 13-10 overall this season, the Bulldogs were 8-6, fifth in the Southeast Iowa Superconference South Division. They hammered Cardinal 84-40 Monday in the first round of district play. This year, the Bulldogs average 60 points per game and give up 54 on 42% shooting, 32% from three and 61% at the line with 24 rebounds, 15 assists, nine steals and 10 turnovers per game. Individually, MEPO is led by Max Griffin at 17 points and five boards per game. Will Luttenegger goes for four assists and three steals per night. This week, Golden Hawk head coach Daren Lambert talked with KCII Sports about the keys against the Bulldogs.
Lambert said, “We’ve played them in district baseball last year, district football and playoff football, so we know each other. I remind our guys, they got us in baseball, we got them in football. They have a really good point guard and some other players who are good in their roles. They can be a very streaky shooting team. If you let them get hot, they can put up points. We have to be able to defend by putting pressure on the ball. Doing the little things consistently and limit them to one shot per possession. Offensively, we need to be aggressive and attack the rim. In these tournament games, the mindset has to be defend, rebound and take care of the ball. If you do those things consistently, you’re going to put yourself in a good position.”
Mid-Prairie has won six of the nine all-time meetings between the two schools including the last a 57-31 playoff win in 2022. You can hear all of the action between Mid-Prairie and MEPO live tonight on AM 1380, FM 102.5, the KCII2 App and KCIIradio.com, beginning with the Golden Hawk Basketball Pregame Show at 6:30p.m. And tip at seven from Tim Grady Gymnasium in Wellman.