The Trojans were victorious in a home double header, sweeping West Central Valley by scores of 44-25 for the girls and 59-43 for the boys as heard on the KNIA3 stream Thursday. It was also their senior night.

The girls led wire to wire, led by Malorie McKinney with 13 points. Faith Vanderhart came off the bench for another 10.

The boys were led by Mason Scheve and his 18 points, but the finish was nothing compared to the start of the game.

Senior Aaron Wilkins, the youngest son of coach Tom Wilkins, started and scored the opening basket uncontested to give him a shining moment. Aaron has missed the last two football and basketball seasons after tearing both his ACLs in separate incidents. This is the last time Aaron will appear in a competitive basketball game. The coach talked with WCV and the officials beforehand to coordinate it. In an act of good sportsmanship, Pleasantville allowed the Wildcats to tie it at two before the action got underway with competition in mind.

The elder Wilkins, holding back every possible emotion, described the occasion.

“I had this idea. I came out of retirement after five years and I wanted to coach my son because I didn’t coach my other son. So I wanted to coach him and with all this COVID and all this other stuff, it’s been a tough time. I got together with the West Central Valley coach and what a class act that he said he would be willing to do that. I talked to the officials. One of the officials talked to me after the game and said it was a class act.”

Pleasantville will be in action again tonight for a double header at Des Moines Christian.