Mid-Prairie boys reach district final

Golden Hawks top West Liberty, 65-35

By Paul D. Bowker
Posted 2/23/21

Mid-Prairie heated its game up from long range to score a crucial district boys basketball win this past Thursday against West Liberty.

Junior guard Jack Pennington hit four 3-pointers, leading a …

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Mid-Prairie boys reach district final

Golden Hawks top West Liberty, 65-35

Posted

Mid-Prairie heated its game up from long range to score a crucial district boys basketball win this past Thursday against West Liberty.

Junior guard Jack Pennington hit four 3-pointers, leading a Mid-Prairie assault of eight 3-pointers in a 65-35 victory that sent the Golden Hawks to their first district final in several years.

Mid-Prairie (15-7) was to face Camanche (16-6) on Tuesday night at West Liberty, a rematch of not only a game won earlier this season by Camanche but also a rematch of last year’s season-ending loss by Mid-Prairie in the tournament.

“Camanche is one of the top teams in the conference,” Mid-Prairie head coach Daren Lambert said. “We do feel even though we lost our matchup at their place earlier in the season, we are a much improved team. We did not play our best game that night in Camanche and we are excited to have another shot at them again and compete for a district title.”

A Mid-Prairie victory in the district final would advance the Golden Hawks to the substate final on Feb. 27 against Pekin or West Burlington. And a win in that game results in the school’s first state tournament berth since 2010.

Pennington led the Golden Hawks with 17 points in their third victory over West Liberty this season. Alex Bean and Carter Harmsen each added 12 points.

“Jack Pennington did a great job of stepping up and hitting four-of-seven 3s and scoring a career high of 17 points,” Lambert said. “He averages just around five assists a game, which is top of the conference, but to have him gain the confidence with a performance like he had gives us another dimension to his game and and our offense.”

Mid-Prairie blew the game open by outscoring West Liberty 18-9 in the second quarter, scoring 12 points on 3-pointers.

“It was a slow start offensively for us in the first part of the first quarter,” Lambert said. “We were a bit impatient and rushing our offense, which wasn’t giving us great looks. Towards the end of the first quarter we really started to move the basketball and create easy looks for ourselves. We did hit back-to-back 3s to end the quarter, which gave us the momentum going forward the rest of the game.”

The Golden Hawks held West Liberty to four points in the third quarter on their way to an 11th consecutive victory over West Liberty in a streak dating back to 2016.

Pennington hit 4-of-7 3-pointers and had three assists and a steal. He hit his first two 3-pointers in the second quarter as the Golden Hawks quickly increased a two-point lead to a nine-point advantage.

Bean, a sophomore guard, hit two 3-pointers and led Mid-Prairie with eight rebounds. He also had two assists, and a steal and defensive block.

Senior forward Aidan Rath had seven rebounds, and made 4-of-7 shots.

The Golden Hawks rolled to a 50-22 lead by the end of the third quarter, at which point most of the team’s starters retired to the bench for the final quarter.