Mountain Grove holds off Mansfield in instant classic, 73-71
Mansfield’s Blake Henry battles for an open shot as a pair of Mountain Grove defenders close in while trying not to foul him on his attempt.
It was a classic battle between two solid Wright County boys basketball programs back on Friday, Dec. 20 when the Mountain Grove Panthers traveled to Mansfield to take on the Lions during their Homecoming night.
Mansfield’s Zach McCrite hit a deep 3-pointer from the corner to give the Lions a 64-63 lead with 2:22 left in the game.
That’s when Sam Peterson came up big for the Panthers. He first scored in the paint for one basket.
After a pair of Aden Estep free throws, Peterson would steal the inbound pass and score on the other end of the floor to put Mountain Grove up by four points with 35 seconds left in the contest.
Mansfield’s Haven Proetz then quickly hit a big 3-pointer before Eli Golden responded with a basket underneath to give the Panthers a three point edge with 10 seconds left in the game.
After Golden made 1-of-2 free throws, a long pass set up yet another Proetz 3-pointer that went in, cutting the lead to one with 1.4 seconds left in the game.
Golden was fouled before the inbound, where he made the first free throw and purposely missed a second attempt, which ran the clock to zero for a 73-71 victory.
Earlier in the game, the Panthers used a 22-point first quarter to go up seven early, Kale Gardner and Estep both scored five points. Meanwhile, the Lions went to the free throw line and made 9-of-14 shots.
They made just 3-of-8 in the second quarter, but were able to cut the lead down to just one point at halftime. Both Blake Henry and Charlie Grubbs scored five points before the break.
Gardner made three 3-pointers and scored 12 points in a 19-point third quarter.
Unfortunately, the Panthers made just 1-of-9 free throws and took a two-point lead into the fourth quarter.
Mountain Grove would make 8-of-10 free throws in the final frame, with one of them coming on purpose late, to secure the exciting win.
Kale Gardner scored a team-high 24 points; both Peterson and Estep had 13; Brody Emery scored eight points; Kale Golden added five points; both JP Dickey and Cooper Hoerning had four points; while Destin Unger scored two points.
Henry paced the Lions with 19 points; Proetz had 17 points; Grubbs scored 12; Jace Headrick added nine points; both Fisher Croney and Riley Stidham had four points; and McCrite finished with three points.
Mountain Grove also had a 70-48 loss to Strafford on Dec. 17.
In that battle, the Panthers were outscored 23-4 in the first quarter and could never get themselves into the game.
Kale Gardner and Golden both scored 12 points; Estep and Hoerning both had eight points; Peterson had five points; while both Braydon Curtiss and Brett Gardner scored one point. (Due to deadlines, Blue and Gold coverage will be in the Jan. 8 issue.)