Defense guides PCM boys to win over Greene County

MONROE — Prairie City-Monroe boys’ basketball coach Fred Lorensen knew his team would have a much tougher time against Greene County than it did the first time back in December.

The Rams came into Tuesday’s Heart of Iowa Conference contest with only three wins, but they recently knocked off South Hamilton and the margin of their defeats since January has been much better.

The Mustangs, who came into the game winners of five of their last six games, had to fight and claw their way to another win. This time, rallying back from an early hole in the first quarter to win 57-50.

“We persevered, battled and got through it,” Lorensen said. “The kids did a good job of hanging in there.”

Derek Brown scored 23 points to lead the Mustangs and PCM improved to 8-0 when allowing 50 or fewer points.

The Rams led 14-7 in the first quarter and trailed by just three at halftime.

The Mustangs routed Greene County 70-40 earlier this season.

“Some teams are harder to guard than others. We thought we had a good plan against these guys,” Lorensen said. “We’ve had some good defensive games lately. I think our kids understand that the defense is important.”

The Mustangs started slow offensively but rallied from an early seven-point hole to trail by two after one. Jason Stafford scored inside and Andrew Mitchell hit his second 3-pointer of the frame to trim the deficit to 14-12.

The Rams’ lead grew to 19-12 early in the second quarter, but PCM (10-5 overall, 7-3 in conference play) used a 10-0 run to go up 22-19. Stafford had five of those 10 points.

The two teams played even the rest of the half and PCM led 30-27 at the break.

“Their zone was good. We missed some shots and we were just careless with the ball,” Lorensen said. “We can’t throw the ball to the other team. We gave them 10-12 points in the first half.”

Brown got going in the second half for the Mustangs.

His bucket inside put PCM up 32-27 and then he scored back-to-back baskets twice, the second time putting his team ahead 40-32. He hit a pair of free throws later and PCM led 45-40 after three.

Brown has played two of the better offensive games of his career against Greene County this season.

He scored a career-high 30 points in the first meeting back in December.

“We decided to put (Derek) down low when they went to the zone,” Lorensen said. “He’s so good in there and is a good passer, too. He just does a lot of really good things when he has the ball inside.”

The Rams (3-11, 1-7) were never out of the game, but the closest they got in the fourth quarter was five. Brown and Gatlin Boell both buried a pair of free throws to extend the lead to nine with 54 seconds to play.

Stafford tallied 12 points, three assists and three steals in the win, while Durant Van Dyke chipped in eight points, 13 rebounds and three assists.

Boell finished with eight points, five assists and four rebounds and Brown grabbed three boards. Mitchell scored all six of his points in the first quarter.

Greene County got 11 points from Richard Daugherty and 10 points from Bryce Stalder.

PCM hosts Class 1A No. 5 Montezuma at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday in Monroe.