Sports, Saturday, February 26th

Prep Basketball: Marion Bests Mount Pleasant in Second Half Flurry

Center Point (IA.) — Marion outscored Mount Pleasant 33-21 in the second half, earning a 60-44 Class 3A-Substate 5 semifinal win.

The Wolves, now 18-5, will play Monday in the Substate Final against Clear Creek-Amana with the game expected to be played in Muscatine.

Mount Pleasant started hot, leading 8-4 and 11-6 before Marion’s Brayson Laube started heating up.

Laube led all scorers with 20 points and four boards, while hitting two three pointers.

The game got away from Mount Pleasant after halftime, where the Panthers hit just four field goals and were outscored 19-9 in the third quarter.

Senior forward Dewon Trent led the Panthers with 14 points and four rebounds, while Payton Hagans, Owen Vansickel and Aaiden Ashton all added seven.

Mount Pleasant closes their year 9-14 and will return several including the aforementioned Hagans, Vansickel and Ashton as well as rising sophomore big man Nate Stroud.

Marion improved to 18-5.

Men’s College Basketball: CAC Semifinals Set:

Mount Pleasant — Top-seeded Florida College joined No. 2 Washington Adventist University (Maryland), No. 3 Northern New Mexico College and No. 5 Iowa Wesleyan as winners on a busy opening day of the CAC men’s basketball tournament.

Tournament host Iowa Wesleyan started the action with an 85-50 victory against No. 4 Wilberforce University (Ohio). Then, Florida College picked up a 110-55 win against No. 8 Lincoln Christian University (Illinois).

The evening session featured Washington Adventist edging No. 7 Crowley’s Ridge College (Arkansas) 55-51 and Northern New Mexico defeating No. 6 Morris College (South Carolina) 75-53.

The 2022 CAC tournament continues on today, with semifinal games between Florida College and Iowa Wesleyan, starting at 2 p.m., and Washington Adventist faces Northern New Mexico at 6:30 p.m. Today’s winners will earn automatic bids to represent the CAC in the NAIA national tournament.

You can listen to Iowa Wesleyan’s matchup with top-seeded Florida Christian on FM 98.5 and kilj.com.

Nathan Bloechl and Kent Bennett will have the call.

Women’s College Basketball: Wesleyan Rolls, CAC Women’s Semis Ready

Mount Pleasant — Iowa Wesleyan steamrolled Fisher College 81-53 as Steve Williamson’s top-seeded Tigers advanced to today’s semifinal round.

Wesleyan will battle with fourth-seeded Washington Adventist who got by Northern New Mexico 62-52.

The bottom of the bracket saw Crowley’s Ridge College upset Wilberforce and second-seeded Haskell Indian Nation’s earn a 67-33 win over Cottey.

Wesleyan will play tonight at 8:00 p.m.

John Kuhens will have the call on FM 98.5 and AM 1130.

The championship game will be played Sunday afternoon at 4:30 p.m.

Prep Basketball: WACO, Danville Meet with State on the Line

It will be a blockbuster night in Fairfield tonight when WACO and Danville meet up for the third time this season.

This time, a trip to the state tournament is on the line.

Danville is 22-2 on the year, while WACO — fresh off of an upset over New London — is 20-4.

Both of Danville’s wins over WACO this year have been nail biters.

On February 1st, it was a 39-37 Bears win, while also nabbing a 43-38 triumph on January 17th.

Danville is paced by senior combo guard Drake Johnson and his 14.3 points per game. Sawyer Nelson is averaging 10 points and Super Conference-high 9.5 rebounds.

WACO sophomore Hunter Hughes leads the Warriors with 11.9 points per game while Reece Oswald adds 8.5.

Tonight’s game will be played at Fairfield and you can listen on FM 105.5 and kilj.com.

Nathan Bloechl will have the call alongside Kent Bennett.