By Dana Harding
Pleasant Hope, MO – Mohawk Nation seems to be alive and well, at least according to a late-game chant from the Morrisville Panther bench.
While the jury is still out on whether a roster full of questionable haircuts can win games, solid guard play and relentless defense is another story.
Morrisville utilized a combination of both Friday night to down arch-rival Pleasant Hope 53-33.
Gavin Lombas poured in 21 points, including four 3-pointers, to lead the Panthers in scoring.
A pair of Lombas 3s in the first quarter helped Morrisville jump out to an early, 20-3 lead. The senior guard, paced the Panthers with 8 points in the opening frame.
It’s easy to imagine a team, down 17 points after only a quarter of play, folding the tent.
Fortunately for the Courtwarming faithful, that team isn’t Pleasant Hope.
Led by Michael Werland and Jordan Hillenburg, the Pirates rallied in the second quarter and cut Morrisville’s halftime lead to a mere four points at 22-18.
After his team followed up a 20-point first quarter burst with only a single basket in the second, Morrisville head coach Brett Rippee talked about watching the wheels fall off due to Pleasant Hope’s defensive intensity.
“We hit a few shots early and kind of punched them in the mouth a little bit, but give them credit,” Rippee said. “They’ve got a lot of heart. They fought back, adjusted defensively and really pressured our guards out on the perimeter, and it really bothered us.”
Werland scored all 8 of his points in the quarter, and Hillenburg chipped in with 5 of his team-high 16.
In the second half, the Panthers made several key adjustments which paid dividends down the stretch. Quick ball movement in and out of the lane allowed shooters to find open looks and driving lanes to the basket.
“I feel like, coming out of the half, we made the proper adjustments,” Rippee said. “We tried to get the ball to the high post a bit more. The bottom half of their zone was real low, and we felt like we just needed to exploit that a little bit.”
Thanks to a second pair of 3-pointers from Lombas, Morrisville stretched its lead to 32-25 at the end of the third quarter.
When asked about the difference between quarters, Lombas immediately pointed to the team’s renewed intensity and focus.
“I don’t know if it was just the adrenaline rush with this rivalry here,” Lombas said. “They handed it to us last year in the Stockton tournament, and we’ve been focusing on this. When we came out in that third quarter, we were ticked and we were frustrated. With that intensity, we came out and wanted to win this game.”
Despite the growing lead, Pleasant Hope still had late opportunities to close the gap. While Hillenburg was able to repeatedly attack the basket, a slew of help-side defenders helped limit the senior guard’s clear looks at the basket. While Hillenburg to the line early and often, the Pirate standout struggled to convert free throws on a consistent basis.
“Hillenburg is such an outstanding player,” Rippee said. “You have to know where he is at all times. I’m so proud of my kids. We had a specific defense for that and held him to 16 points tonight.”
While Lombas came through with another 7 points in the fourth quarter, the Panthers were able to close out the game thanks, in no small part, to free throws.
Morrisville’s Connor Wilkins, Carston Ketcherside, Justin McMillen and Josh Turner went a combined 10-10 from the line, preventing further rallies from the Pleasant Hope attack.
Wilkins chipped in 14 points for the Panthers to join Lombas in double figures.
Following the team’s slow start and subsequent comeback, Pirates head coach Eric Sechler talked about falling apart during a key, second-half stretch.
“Mentally, we kind of collapsed on ourselves,” Sechler said. “We saw that they hit a couple shots, and then we missed a couple shots. All of the sudden, we kind of broke down and thought we needed to change something when, really, if we would have stuck with it and kept pounding, I think we could have eventually got the lead again.”
Next up for Morrisville (8-8) is a road trip to Conway on Tuesday, Jan. 31. Pleasant Hope (7-9) travels to Strafford that same evening.
Varsity final: Morrisville – 53, Pleasant Hope – 33
Morrisville 20 02 10 24 — 53
Pleasant Hope 03 15 07 08 — 33
Morrisville scoring: Gavin Lombas – 21, Connor Wilkins – 14, Justin McMillen – 6, Josh Turner – 6, Jordan McMillen – 4, Carston Ketcherside – 2
Pleasant Hope scoring: Jordan Hillenburg – 16, Michael Werland – 8, Hayden Aleshire – 4, Calvin Mitchell – 3, Damon Miles – 2
JV final: Morrisville – 29, Pleasant Hope – xx
(Oscar Stephens – 10 points)
