The second season starts tonight for the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk boys basketball team, which means the stakes get every higher when they host Mediapolis in their class 2A district 12 semifinal. The Golden Hawks come into tonight’s contest unbeaten at 21-0 on the year and ranked No. 2 in class 2A according to the Associated Press. Last time they were in action on Friday, they completed a perfect run through the regular season with a 65-50 win over No. 7 Monticello in Wellman. That win gave the Hawks their first conference title since 2009 and tied a 31-year-old school record for longest winning streak, as they joined the 1991 Golden Hawks as the only Mid-Prairie boys team to finish an unbeaten regular season. Tonight, they take the floor in a win-or-go-home scenario with a chance to break that record and move one step closer to the state tournament. Mid-Prairie scores 64 points per game, shoots 48% from the floor, and 34% from three with 30 rebounds, 13 assists, nine steals and 10 turnovers a night. Carter Harmsen leads the Golden Hawks individually scoring 20 points per game with eight rebounds. He stands at an even 1,100 points for his career entering tonight. Jack Pennington averages four assists per game.
Mediapolis comes into the night at 16-6 overall with a 14-2 runner-up finish in the Southeast Iowa Superconference North Division. They won Monday 55-34 over Van Buren to get to this round. The Bulldogs score 44 points per game, shoot 42% from the floor with 21 rebounds, 10 assists, nine steals and 11 turnovers. Cole Lipper leads MEPO scoring 11 points per game and five rebounds. Ben Egan averages four assists and Jackson Hutcheson three steals per night. Mid-Prairie head coach Daren Lambert spoke on the KCII postgame show Friday about what his team needs to do to be successful this postseason. “Big time players step up in big games and leaders step up. That’s what these kids do. Everyone on the team does it. Down the stretch we have guys on the perimeter that have knocked down shots, guys that can get to the rim and guys that can finish inside. Playing defense isn’t always pretty, but these guys have bought in on that side of the ball. Sometimes those numbers don’t always show up, but the only number that matters is the scoreboard at the end of the night. Our guys are competitors. They compete against each other in practice, the teams they see in games and now against the school record book. They want to be the ones on top. They want to be the ones that are remembered. It’s just so exciting that they are so hungry and we want to go out and finish the job.”
These teams have met eight times through their history with Mid-Prairie winning five, including a 59-29 win in their last meeting in 2017. The winner of this contest advances to play for the District 12 championship Tuesday at Mt. Pleasant against the winner of Cardinal and West Burlington. You can hear all of the action between the Hawks and Bulldogs live tonight on AM 1380, FM 102.5 and KCIIradio.com, beginning with the Washington HyVee Pregame show at 6:30 and tip at 7p.m.