Mid-Prairie led wire-to-wire in a 54-42 win at Cascade on Thursday to remain undefeated through five games. 

A Cougar 3-pointer cut the Mid-Prairie lead to 42-35 in the fourth quarter, but Alex Bean answered in kind at the other end and Cascade would get no closer.

Despite entering the game with just one win, the Cougars had a season-best shooting performance and trailed by just two in the second quarter.  

“Things weren't easy tonight, and in the moment you don't like it, but when you come out on the winning end, there are a lot of valuable things that we learned tonight,” head coach Daren Lambert said after the game. “

The guys are still humble and staying hungry and they want to play better, but coming in here and facing a little adversity when things aren't going your way and coming out on top — you're pretty excited that you learned some stuff and you got the win.”

Cascade sophomore Cass Hoffman and senior Gavin Manternach combined to shoot 8-of-17 from outside of the arc, while 6-foot-5 junior Cole McDermott was 8-of-9 on the inside. 

Mid-Prairie forced 15 turnovers, led by senior Jack Pennington, who had six steals. 

“I thought we defended well,” Lambert said. “We only gave up 42 points, forced a lot of turnovers. But they hit shots and so we faced a little adversity tonight. There's always going to be nights like this and good teams find a way to win.”

Cascade had not made more than six 3-pointers or shot better than 30 percent from the arc in any previous game. 

It was late in the first half when the Cougars cut the lead to 20-18 with their third 3-point make of the quarter, but Carter Harmsen scored the next six points and Mid-Prairie led by at least five the rest of the way. 

“We knew something like that was going to happen,” Harmsen said about the Cougar threes. “So we knew we just had to play through it.”

Harmsen finished with a game-high 21 points and seven rebounds on 9-of-16 shooting. He scored in transition, he scored against the 2-3 zone from the high post, and when the defense collapsed, he found Bean for an open three. 

“They would double team a lot of the time in the zone,” said Harmsen, who explained that the goal was “just finding the open man for the best shot we could get.”

Bean was 3-for-4 from the 3-point line to finish with 13 points. 

Only three players scored for Cascade on Thursday, and only McDermott made a 2-point shot or a free throw. 

Justice Jones was 2-of-3 for five points. Ethan Kos had four points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals. Pennington had four points and two assists, while Cavanagh added four points, two assists and two steals as well. 

Mid-Prairie outrebounded Cascade and won the turnover battle 16-10. 

At Northeast, Tuesday, Dec. 21

The Golden Hawks will face an opponent with a winning record for the first time this season on Tuesday in Goose Lake. 

Northeast (6-2) has more wins than Mid-Prairie’s first five opponents combined (5-24). 

The Rebels are 2-2 in games decided by five points or less with a 56-55 win over West Branch and a 57-52 win at Tipton. 

Northeast fell 55-52 to Wilton for its first loss of the season on Saturday and suffered a 40-39 loss to Camanche on Tuesday, before bouncing back with a 66-49 win over Regina. 

“Northeast is always a tough place to go play,” Lambert said. They've had success at home. They're having a great season and they have confidence. They're a physical team.”

Seniors Carter Pataska and Cade Hughes lead the Rebels with 14 and 12 points per game respectively. The Rebels make over four 3-pointers per game at a 32 percent clip, led by Hughes, who is 16-for-48 from three in seven games.  

The Mid-Prairie football team met Northeast in a postgame game on October 22, which the Golden Hawks won 35-28. 

“We saw them at the end of the football season and a lot of those guys play basketball,” Lambert said. “So I'm sure they’ve got us circled and it'll be a fun experience for us. But you know, we’ve just got to go in and go to work Friday, Monday and do the things that we need to do on the practice floor to make sure that translates to the game floor and that we're ready to go.”