Photo Courtesy of MP CSD Social Media

The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk boys basketball team used the ‘survive and advance’ mantra Thursday night at Tim Grady Gymnasium in Wellman, completing a fourth quarter comeback to move past Mediapolis 63-56. The Bulldogs led 16-15 after the first, using a 10-0 second quarter run, the Golden Hawks were on top at half 32-28. MEPO responded out of the break, leading 47-43 going to the fourth. With their season on the line, Mid-Prairie made their move with five minutes to play, scoring 12 straight to erase a Bulldog six point lead and wrestle the advantage away for good. Live on the postgame show, Mid-Prairie senior Bryce Henry talked about his mentality making plays during key stretches and his teams will to win late. “I’ve been talking about my confidence all year and being there for my team. Guys were playing with a lot more intensity. Stopping their main guys and rebounding. Our confidence as a team has gotten a lot better during the second half of the season. We’re working harder and doing more of the successful things. It’s nice seeing all of the guys perform tonight. We didn’t shoot that well, but, we did pretty decent for not shooting well. We came out with a win and coach says, ‘it’s all about defense’.”

The Golden Hawks won the boards by four and each team committed eight turnovers. Henry led the Hawks with 17 points as he moved into fourth all-time on the Mid-Prairie scoring list. His back-to-back threes in the fourth quarter were the catalyst for the game defining run for the Hawks. The Golden Hawks also had 12 points from Kale Miller and 11 from Brooks Weber. Will Luttenegger’s 21 points led Mediapolis. MEPO ends their year at 15-7. The Golden Hawks are 16-6 and will play for the District 10 Championship Tuesday at Northeast Goose Lake.