by Gunnar Davis

After back-to-back conference losses to Nevada and Gilbert, the PCM Mustangs boys’ basketball team traveled to Jefferson in Greene County to play the Rams on Feb. 12. The last time the two teams met, the Rams made 12 3-pointers en route to a 76-54 victory. This time around, the Mustangs again lost, but in overtime, 65-62.
The battle between these two teams was so competitive that they needed an extra time period to duke it out. The Mustangs started slow against the quick-shooting Rams, with Greene County holding a 34-24 lead heading into halftime.
PCM bounced back with a big 19-point third quarter to make the score 45-43 heading into the fourth. The Mustangs then capitalized in the fourth quarter on some missed free throws by the Rams. In the final seconds of the game, junior Luke Greiner hit a bucket to tie up the game and force overtime.
In the extra period, the Mustangs only scored three points off a lone 3-pointer by sophomore Jackson Thomas. In the end, that wasn’t enough to secure the win.
Senior Logan Gilman led the way with 25 points and seven rebounds. Greiner had 17 points and seven boards and junior Noah Clark in his first start had 13 points and seven boards as well.
Clark had some things that the team needs to improve on.
“We need to keep our bodies on people down low,” Clark said. “We need to play with intensity the whole game and give a perfect effort. Blocking people out and getting rebounds is what I think is going to put an edge on them. We have to shoot better as well.”
The Mustangs travel to Des Moines Christian to take on the winner of the game between Madrid and Woodward-Granger. The district playoff game will be on Thursday, Feb. 18.