PCM cruises into substate with 81-40 rout
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| PCM senior Jordan Van Roekel puts up a shot over a host of Davis County defenders during Tuesday’s 81-40 District 13 championship in Ottumwa. Van Roekel led all scorers with 16 points. (Shane Lucas/Daily News) |
OTTUMWA — After being taken down to the wire by Pella Christian, the Prairie City-Monroe boys basketball team apparently wanted a less stressful playoff game, and it made sure that happened in a big way Tuesday night.
Sparked by a 35-point first quarter, a slew of 3-pointers and four players in double figures, the Mustangs (21-2) essentially had Davis County put away at halftime during their 81-40 victory over Davis County that set up a rematch of last year’s substate championship with familiar postseason foe West Marshall.
“It felt awesome to jump out to that early lead and just get some comfort and confidence going,” PCM senior Sean O’Connor said. “They definitely sagged in on Scott (Bruxvoort) and Jordan (Van Roekel) around the basket. Then they did a nice job of kicking it out to our 3-point shooters and we were able to knock them in.”
The Mustangs put on a shooting clinic in the first quarter as junior Nate Vande Wall got things started before O’Connor drained three 3-pointers and Bruxvoort contributed multiple jumpers for a massive lead early. Interestingly enough, shooting from the outside wasn’t in the game plan, but PCM did a nice job of improvising.
“We wanted to stick it inside a lot. It didn’t look like it, but that was our last motto,” PCM coach Fred Lorensen said with a laugh. “They weren’t guarding a couple of our kids _ Sean O’Connor especially. They had a big guy just staying away from him, so I guess you might as well see what happens. He knocked a few down right away and that gets kind of contagious.”
Bruxvoort injured his ankle going for an offensive rebound as time expired in the first quarter, but he was able to sit out the rest of the game after contributing 15 points to the Mustangs’ early lead. Senior Hutch Burns and sophomore Dillon Bruxvoort got in on the action in the second quarter as the three party continued. PCM was also able to start working the ball down low as originally planned, which helped pave the way for a 55-21 halftime lead.
“When the threes are falling like that, it’s hard not to shoot them,” Van Roekel said. “Then in the third quarter they were all stretched out and they changed their style at halftime, so that just opens things up in the lane and we got some good looks.”
With the game firmly in hand, the Mustangs went into damage control mode in the second half. With bench players starting to trickle in, the third quarter passed by quickly with a lot of clock-killing sets and occasional shots. Even with Davis County outscoring PCM 15-9, the Mustangs still led by 28 points going into the fourth.
“We just wanted to make a lot of good, smart passes and just kind of work it around,” O’Connor said. “We didn’t want to turn it over and just take care of the game that way.”
Although Van Roekel and Vande Wall chipped in some fourth-quarter points, the Mustang bench ran the show in the final minutes. Holding Davis County to just four points, PCM earned the running clock mercy rule and got some of its reserves some big minutes as the clock wound down.
“The big thing for me is to get a big lead and see those guys that don’t get to play a lot at the end of the game, and they all played well,” Van Roekel said. “Zach DeWitte, Alex Amadeo and Michael Neff all played hard, and that was good stuff to watch.”
The Mustangs now turn their attention to Class 2A No.1 West Marshall (23-0), with whom they have some building history. PCM defeated West Marshall in a 33-31 substate barnburner last season, but the Trojans exacted their revenge by beating the Mustangs one game shy of state in football this season.
“We were expecting a real challenge from (Davis County), and I hope this will give us some confidence,” Lorensen said. “Of course we’re not sure about Scott and what’s going to happen with him, so that might change our plans a little bit if he can’t go. That’s a little bit of a damper on a really good night.”
The Mustangs will have to wait and see about Bruxvoort’s status, but it was hard for them to contain their anticipation for another shot at West Marshall. The big rematch will be played this Saturday at 7 p.m. in Ankeny.
“We’re excited, we can’t wait. We’ve been battling with these guys since elementary school,” Van Roekel said. “We got the better half of them in basketball last year in substate and this year in football they got the better half of us, so the atmosphere should be great.”
PCM 81, Davis County 40
Score by quarter
P — 35 20 9 17 — 81
D — 11 10 15 4 — 40
Individual scorers
P — Van Roekel 16, Scott Bruxvoort 15, Vande Wall 14, O’Connor 11, Dillon Bruxvoort 7, Burns 5, Clymer 5, Amadeo 2, Alex DeWitte 2, Zach DeWitte 2, Neff 2
D — Kincart 12, Mathews 11, Mikels 11, Garmon 6
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