After Washington started Monday’s game on a 17-4 run, Mid-Prairie battled back to cut the lead to three points. 

But after the second half began with a 20-5 Demon run, there wasn’t enough time for another Golden Hawk comeback and Washington held on for the 59-46 win. 

“I think we were settling for some shots,” Mid-Prairie coach Daren Lambert said about the scoring droughts.

“We were pretty quick triggered, and weren’t necessarily moving the basketball around.Instead taking good shots or OK, shots, we want to take great shots. And especially when they have the foul trouble that they had, we want, we want to see our guys be a little bit more aggressive.”

Mid-Prairie did score five points from the free throw line during a 14-4 run that cut Washington’s early lead to 21-18. But the Golden Hawks also attempted 24 3-pointers and made just three.   

“When it’s not your night, from the outside, you have to find different ways to score and we found a way a little later than we needed to,” Lambert said.

Washington led by as many as 27 points before Mid-Prairie turned up the defensive pressure and closed the game with a 17-3 run. 

“That’s the type of attitude and mentality we have to play with from the start of the game,” Lambert said. 

“And, that way, we’re not trying to play catch up. I was pleased with the way we responded with the pressure.”

Carter Harmsen led the Golden Hawks with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Alex Bean was 2-6 from the 3-point line and scored 12. Aidan Rath scored 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds. 

“We have a lot of guys that can score, but sometimes we let the offensive end dictate how the defensive end looks. And it really has got to be the the other way there,” Lambert said. 

“Defense leads to your offense and defense is always going to be there and tonight offense wasn’t. So you know, that’s just something that we got to keep keep in our mindset, that our defense can lead to our offense.”

Strong second half propels Hawks

The Golden Hawks overcame a slow start to defeat Bellevue 61-51 on Friday. Mid-Prairie trailed 14-11 after the first quarter and was tied 24-24 with the Comets (6-12) at halftime. 

The offense picked up for Mid-Prairie (9-5) with 20 points in the third quarter, and the Golden Hawks took a seven-point lead into the fourth. 

Harmsen was 8-11 at the free throw line and led Mid-Prairie with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Bean was 3-8 from the 3-point line for 15 points. Aidan Rath went 4-4 from the field and scored 11. Jack Pennington had five points, five assists and three steals. Will Cavanagh had three points and three assists.