Hounds move to 3-0, Mt. Pleasant looms Tuesday

In action earlier this week, Elijah Barnes dishes to Treavor Kokjohn, while Austin Rose trails the action. The Hounds downed Fairfield 71-61 Friday to stay perfect in the Southeast Conference.

Posted Saturday, January 7, 2017 12:24 am

BY CHUCK VANDENBERG

PCC EDITOR

FORT MADISON - There's a winter storm headed to the east coast and it's knocking down airports and all that, but a bigger storm may be headed to Mt. Pleasant Tuesday, after the Hounds dispatched of Fairfield Friday night.

The Hounds, 3-0 in Southeast Conference action after a 71-61 win over visiting Fairfield Friday, now look for a matchup of the top two teams in the conference. Both teams have not lost in conference action and Mt. Pleasant is 6-1 overall to Fort Madison's 6-2 record. Tuesday's game is a makeup of a 12/16 game that was postponed due to weather.

On Friday, the Hounds had a comfortable 32-19 first half lead, but a letdown on the defensive end let the score get closer in the final period.

"We were up 15-18 at different points in the game but in the second half we just didn't play well defensively," head coach Ryan Wilson said after the game. "In the first half we were good but we just had that letdown."

The Hounds put up 70 points for the second game in a row, slapping 72 on Washington Tuesday.

Kaleb Cresswell and CJ Richardson, who are 2nd and 3rd in the Southeast Iowa Conference in scoring led the Hounds again on Friday with 15 and 18 points respectively. Fort Madison had two others in double figures with Treavor Kokjohn with 12 and Logan Rashid with 11.

"Logan played really well in the first half and caused a lot of things to happen," Wilson said. "But we got a complete team effort and everyone chipped in. We had some players that didn't score but contributed in other ways. Shance Redd-Donald came off the bench in the first half and gave us a couple of big buckets."

Other scorers for Fort Madison included Austin Rose with 9 points, Redd-Donald with 4 and Landon Bentley with a bucket in the 2nd half.

Mt. Pleasant will present a different sort of test for the Hounds on Tuesday as they will face Junior Brady Sartorius who leads the Southeast Conference with 21 points per game. The Panthers also roll out 6'-9" center Tom O' Connor who's averaging just under 9 boards and 9 points per game. The Hounds' Kokjohn leads the conference in rebounds with 10 per game.

"We've gotta be a heck of a lot better. (Mt. Pleasant) put up 86 on Washington tonight. They're a disciplined team that plays smart and takes care of the ball."