For the third consecutive season, PCM’s boys’ basketball squad sees their playoff run come to an end as they lose to No. 7 in Class 2A Des Moines Christian 58-47 at Carlisle Tuesday night, a district final matchup that was broadcast on the KRLS3 stream at kniakrls.com.

 

The Mustangs and Lions traded baskets early on in the first half until Des Moines Christian went on a 12-0 run in the second quarter to take a 28-17 lead into the locker room. After the Lions extended their lead to 15 midway through the third quarter, PCM came back and ended the quarter on an 8-0 run. However, it wasn’t enough as the two teams traded baskets in the fourth quarter until the end of the game. Coach Fred Lorenson says that his team played hard, but couldn’t keep Des Moines Christian out of the paint.

 

“Well, I thought our kids played really hard. I was really proud of them for that. Des Moines Christian is a really good team and I thought we had a pretty good gameplan against them. But it’s hard to execute that all the time. They really hurt us on the offensive boards early, just can’t let them do that and just let them in the lane way too many times. That was one of our things was to not let them in the lane and we just didn’t do that quite well enough tonight.”

 

Durant Van Dyke led the way in scoring with 21 points, including scoring 13 of PCM’s 15 points in the fourth quarter. Carson Vandelune finished with 12 points but struggled shooting from three-point range, knocking down just one three-pointer. PCM hit just two shots from beyond the arc all night.

 

The Mustangs will finish the 2021-22 season with a 14-10 overall record with a 9-5 record in Heart of Iowa Conference play. PCM will graduate six seniors from their roster, including starters Vandelune, Van Dyke, Cade Lindsay, and Matt Rosonke.