For the seventh straight time, the Mid-Prairie boys basketball team handled West Liberty.
The Golden Hawks won 64-55, dominating West Liberty the first three quarters of the game. Carter Harmsen was a spark off the bench, scoring 16 points on 6-8 shooting.
Mid-Prairie was able to slowly build their lead throughout the game, leading 58-37 at the end of three quarters before West Liberty chipped away at the lead by the time the game was already decided.
Three were in double figures for Mid-Prairie in the win, with Harmsen leading the way. Chris Miller and Aidan Rath each had 10 points.
The Golden Hawks outrebounded West Liberty 31-22 and a big part of that was cleaning up the offensive glass. Ethan Trimpe had three offensive rebounds and Harmsen had four.
Brad Tornow was a big distributor for the Hawks in his fourth year in the varsity lineup. Tornow had seven assists and seven points for Mid-Prairie.
Gavin Chown did the heavy lifting for West Liberty, scoring 21 points on 7-20 shooting. As a team, the Comets were held to tough shots and were 20-50 as a whole.
Mid-Prairie moved to 1-0 with the win.
The Golden Hawks hosted Tipton on Friday as the student section hosted Pack the Gym Night.
Mid-Prairie’s starting lineup for the game was Brad Tornow and Chris Miller at guard and Ethan Trimpe, Jack Baker and Aidan Rath at forward. Mid-Prairie has gone with the lineup in both games this year.
It was a quick start for Mid-Prairie as they took a 5-0 lead within the first two minutes of the game. They held a 7-5 lead before Tipton went on a 10-0 run lasting until 30 seconds left in the quarter.
That run would push Tipton to a lead they would give up only briefly in a 57-48 loss for Mid-Prairie. Both teams struggled to score in the second quarter with only 16 total points scored.
At halftime, Mid-Prairie was led by Carter Harmsen and Ethan Trimpe with six points each.
Mid-Prairie came out of halftime with momentum. Chris Miller hit a 3-pointer and Aidan Rath had a three-point play to bring Mid-Prairie within one at 24-23 with 6:30 left in the third quarter.
Mid-Prairie’s zone defense was keeping Tipton out of the paint and making Tipton’s Frank Bierman less effective in the post. They forced Tipton misses on the next two possessions before Ethan Trimpe put back in his own miss to give Mid-Prairie a 25-24 lead.
Tipton fought back to a 38-33 lead at the end of the third quarter with a buzzer-beating three.
Tipton scored the first two baskets of the fourth quarter as Colby Kleppe scored four of his 21 points. That pushed the lead to 42-33 and put Mid-Prairie in a mode where they had to rush. They brought it back to 47-45 as Chris Miller hit an improbable four-point play as he hit a 3-pointer from the right side while being fouled into his own bench.
That sent the Mid-Prairie bench into a frenzy, but it was quickly dashed as Frank Bierman got his own offensive rebound then made a basket and was fouled. Tipton hit their free throws down the stretch to win 57-48.
Mid-Prairie was pretty well handled on rebounds. Tipton outrebounded Mid-Prairie 37-21. The Golden Hawks struggled in the paint, missing some easy shots on breakaways. The Tigers had 20 turnovers, but those misses on easy shots essentially erased the advantage Mid-Prairie built up.
Mid-Prairie took on Iowa City Regina (2-0) on Tuesday and traveled to North Cedar (0-3) on Friday.