WELLMAN

Just when Mid-Prairie seemed destined for a dogfight in Tuesday night’s game against Iowa City Regina Catholic, the Golden Hawks turned up their defense.

It was an impenetrable brick wall for the Regals.

Stuck in a scoreless streak over the late portion of the second quarter and early in the third quarter, Regina had three consecutive possessions in which it couldn’t even get a shot off:

A 10-second time violation when the Regals could get past halfcourt.

A steal and lay-up by Mid-Prairie guard Will Cavanagh.

An over-and-back violation at halfcourt.

The sequence was part of a 15-0 Mid-Prairie run over two quarters that helped send the Golden Hawks to a 69-50 victory.

“That’s the type of mistakes that we’re trying to force them into, whether it’s through fatigue or constantly having to do something over and over and over again,” Mid-Prairie head coach Daren Lambert said.

The Golden Hawks (3-0) held the Regals to 38% shooting and forced 14 turnovers. The Golden Hawks were ahead by just two points, 23-21, when they began a 15-0 run that give Mid-Prairie a 38-21 lead less than three minutes into the second quarter. The run featured a 3-pointer by junior guard Camron Pckard in the final seconds of the first half.

“Creating chaos is the goal there,” Lambert said.

“First quarter especially, we struggled to get going,” said senior guard Justice Jones. “As we went on, we just played qggressive and got better, ended up going on that 15-0 run.”

By the time the defense kicked in, the time had arrived for Mid-Prairie senior forward Carter Harmsen to take over offensively. After being held scoreless in the first quarter and to two points in the second quarter, Harmsen scored his second consecutive double-double on 14 points and 13 rebounds.

He had plenty of help in the paint. Senior center Ethan Kos scored a game-high 16 points and had nine rebounds. Five of those rebounds came on the offensive boards.

After the 15-0 run was over, the Golden Hawks were not finished with their suffocating defense. Jones – a Class 2A All-State linebacker in football – ripped the ball out of Regina forward Cameron Lehman’s hands and danced in for an easy lay-up.

“He was an all-state football player, so he knows how to be physical. He’s really tough,” Harmsen said.

“I like defense,” Jones said. “That’s how I can contribute to the team.”

Pickard added a season-high 13 points for Mid-Prairie and junior guard Alex Bean had 12.

Sophomore guard Michael Martin led Regina with 15 points and senior forward Carter Leick added 13.

Regina sophomore guard Nolan McDonald went down with a left foot injury in the first minute and the game was stopped while he was examined and helped. He left the court in a wheelchair.

Mid-Prairie goes after its fourth consecutive win Friday night at North Cedar (0-3).