MONROE — PCM’s boys’ basketball team withstood the first punch from Roland-Story on Feb. 4. The second upper cut in the fourth quarter was unanswered as a poor shooting night plagued the Mustangs during a 55-47 home loss on Senior Night.
PCM rallied from a 10-point hole in the second quarter to lead 39-37 after three. But the Norse outscored the Mustangs 18-8 in the fourth to pull away for good during the Heart of Iowa Conference game.
“We had pretty good looks. I don’t know what else we can do,” PCM coach Fred Lorensen said. “We did a good job getting inside but need to finish in there better. And our outside shooters just weren’t on as much as they have been in other games.”
The Mustangs were 18-of-44 from the field and 8-of-18 from long range. They only took six shots from the foul line.
PCM led 8-3 in the first quarter but a 15-0 run by the Norse (11-7 overall, 7-5 in conference play) put the visitors in front 18-8.
The Mustangs buried four 3-pointers the rest of the half to close the gap to 25-24 at the break.
Grant Landgrebe two 3-pointers in the quarter, the second coming at the halftime buzzer.
“We need Grant to do that. He’s a really good shooter,” Lorensen said. “He needs to work on the rest of his game. He has to get better defensively and take care of the ball better, but he can shoot the ball. We know that.”
Jason Stafford had seven of his 16 points in the second quarter. His jumper in the third quarter put the Mustangs in front 28-27 and then Andrew Mitchell buried a 3-pointer to extend it to 31-27.
It was back-and-forth the rest of the quarter and Derek Brown put his team up a pair on two separate buckets. It was 39-37 Mustangs after three.
The Norse came out firing in the fourth. Seven quick points put R-S in front 44-39. Stafford made a jumper but another 7-0 run pushed the Norse lead to 51-41. PCM never got closer than six the rest of the way.
“They made some shots and we had some turnovers. Then they made some shots and we missed shots. Then they made some more shots,” Lorensen said. “We had some really good shots that looked good but didn’t go in. Them making shots and us missing shots three or four times will create some separation.”
Stafford, Brown, Cooper VandeLune, Kolten Johnson and Robbie Ferneding were recognized as seniors before the game.
Stafford finished with 16 points, five rebounds and five assists and Brown added 10 points, three rebounds and two assists.
Mitchell had five points, three assists and two steals and Gatlin Boell grabbed five boards. Landgrebe scored six points and hauled in four rebounds.
Sam Skaar led R-S with 21 points, five rebounds and five assists. The Norse were 22-of-42 from the floor and they also made eight 3-pointers.
South Hamilton 56, PCM 52
Stafford put in 24 points but PCM couldn’t hold a halftime advantage during a 56-52 road loss to South Hamilton on Feb. 7.
The Mustangs (11-8, 7-6) led 31-19 at the break, but the Hawks (10-6, 9-3) outscored them 37-21 in the second half.
Stafford was 3-of-5 from 3-point range and had three rebounds and two steals.
Mitchell and Boell both had nine points and Brown scored eight points, grabbed three boards and had two steals.
Boell also had two assists and Van Dyke dished out three assists and blocked two shots.
