A ten day lay-off between games, which included the snowstorm of the century, seemed to chill the Tigers in Monday night’s bi-district matchup with Lufkin. But once the icicles thawed and the Tigers’ engines got revving, Mount Pleasant was able to surge to victory to advance to the next round of the playoffs.

Things looked good early on as Mount Pleasant took a 4-0 lead on a layup by Jakybrein Hines followed by a Zaveion Chism-Okoh dunk. But Lufkin would counter with consecutive three pointers that would vault them to a 12-11 advantage at the end of the first. The Panthers would continue their surge using an 11-1 run to take a commanding 28-17 lead with under two minutes remaining in the half. That surge however, would awaken the Tigers as they went on a 9-2 spurt to cut the lead to 30-26 at the half. The Tigers would use that momentum shift to keep things going in the third quarter outscoring Lufkin 21-13 to take a 44-43 lead heading into the final frame. A 13-4 run to open the fourth quarter would be all the Tigers needed as they finished out the game from the free throw line for the ten-point victory.

Payton Chism led all scorers with 18 points and a team high 7 assists. Xzavier Brown put on his best shooting performance of the season going a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc to connect for 13 points and pulled down 8 rebounds along with 4 steals. Zaveion Chism-Okoh notched 14 points with 4 assists and 4 steals. Will Hills added 9 points and a team high 9 rebounds and Jakybrein Hines had a nice line with 7 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 steals. Also scoring was Kelcey Morris with 1 point.

The win moves the Tigers into the Area round of the UIL State Playoffs for the second year in a row as they will face the winner of Waco University and Crandall who play on Tuesday evening. Mount Pleasant also maintains its perfect record on the season at 25-0 and #9 ranking in the state according to the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches website.

By Drew Barkley
Photos by John Whitten