In a renewal of a rivalry, former Eastern Iowa Hawkeye Conference teams Solon and Mid-Prairie squared off Saturday night in Solon for a basketball doubleheader. In the girl’s contest Solon led throughout taking a 50-37 win. Mid-Prairie’s Taylor Kurtz picked up where she left off Thursday after her career high 24 points against West Liberty, scoring the first six for the Hawks. Solon’s rotation came at Mid-Prairie in waves forcing the Golden Hawks into foul trouble in a very physical game. Solon put together a run in the second quarter following a technical foul on Mid-Prairie Head Coach Stephen Bender on a disputed no call. The Lady Spartans also shot well from behind the arc hitting three first half three pointers to lead 28-19.
In the second half Mid-Prairie’s foul trouble continued with four Hawks spending time on the bench with four fouls. The Lady Spartans began the second half on a 6-0 run and the lead would reach 20 points midway through the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach. The Golden Hawks were led by Kurtz’ 16 points. The Hawks are now 1-4 on the season.
In the boys contest the Golden Hawks were faced with a tall order, trying to knock off #3 in 3A on the road. Mid-Prairie gave the Spartans everything they could handle on their home floor falling 63-62 in overtime. Mid-Prairie fell behind 2-0 early and then would take a lead they would not give up until the fourth quarter. Led by hot shooting and good defense the Hawks led 18-16 at the end of the first quarter and 34-30 at the halftime break. Mid-Prairie took control of the game in the third quarter led by a barrage of threes from Nick Stimson and Dayton Hall who combined for four consecutive three pointers late in the period to push the Golden Hawk lead to 15.
The fourth quarter started with Solon making their run. The Spartans turned up the defensive pressure in the 1-3-1 zone and got extremely physical with the Golden Hawks. Mid-Prairie turnovers and hot shooting for the Spartans led to a 19-4 Solon run. Trailing by four with under three minutes to play the Hawks didn’t wilt, they got a flying layup from Nathan Faselt and a three point play chance from Riley Sieren putting the Hawks up one. On Sieren’s missed free throw Mid-Prairie was called for a rebounding foul on a whistle from beyond mid-court putting Solon at the line. The Spartans hit both on their trip going up one point. On the return trip down the floor Mid-Prairie had the ball kicked out of bounds with just four seconds left. From under his own basket Stimson found a cutting Faselt who was fouled. Faselt put in the first free throw to tie the game and missed the second, sending the game into overtime.
In overtime Mid-Prairie mustered one field goal, a three from Hall, his fifth of the night. The Spartans tied it from the free throw line and had possession with one minute remaining. The Hawks opted to stay back and play defense as the Spartans ran the clock. Emilio Villagrana launched a three with eight seconds left, missing off the back rim it fell right into the hands of Spartan Ethan Ahern who was fouled on his putback attempt. Ahern stepped to the line and hit the first of two free throws to put the Spartans ahead by one. Off the miss the Hawks tried to hustle the ball up the floor for a final shot but Ahern deflected a pass from midcourt allowing time to expire.
Mid-Prairie was led by 15 points from Dayton Hall, all of them coming from behind the arc. Nick Stimson, Riley Sieren and Spencer Shalla all finished with 10 points. The Hawks were eight of 14 from three point range but their 28 turnovers were too much to overcome. The Mid-Prairie boys are now 2-2 on the year. The boys and girls will both travel to Tipton Tuesday.