by Brad McClellan

On Feb. 16, the PCM boys’ varsity basketball team traveled to Des Moines Christian High School hoping to further their season in district competition against East Marshall. The lead shifted back and forth throughout the game, but with the score tied 48-48 and fewer than two seconds on the clock East Marshall threw a lob to their big guy who flipped it in the basket. Although the Mustangs called timeout with 1.8 seconds left on the clock and then tried to throw it downcourt for a last second shot to tie the game and send it in to overtime, time ran out and the Mustangs lost 50-48 to end their season.

The boys started out on top with the first quarter score 14-12. At half the Mustangs were still up 22-19. In the third quarter East Marshall took the lead 39-34.

Junior Jackson Thomas and sophomore Reed Worth both scored 11 points in the contest. Not far behind was sophomore Andrew Van Ryswyk who scored 10 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Freshman Derek Brown added seven points.  Also scoring were senior Mark Bruxvoort with five and junior Elijah Sperfslage with four.

The boys ended with an 11-12 record this season. Team leader and the lone senior Bruxvoort said, “We played a really hard game. I’m proud of all the guys’ effort. We played a good game against a good team, and it came down to a last second shot that fell. I’m not going to let that game define the whole season.”