By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com
Mount Pleasant Boys, Rawson, Debut Tonight at Xavier:
The Mount Pleasant boys’ basketball team will make their season debut tonight when they travel north to scrap with the Saints of Cedar Rapids Xavier in a nonconference tilt.
It will also mark the debut of first time head coach Eric Rawson, who took the reigns from Caleb Akey who left for the same position at Burlington High School.
Along with Rawson, there will be several new faces as key parts of this year’s club.
The Panthers graduated All-Conference talents Clayton Lowery, Keegan Kohorst and Brody Bender from last year’s group and will turn to senior forward Brevin Wilson to lead the offense this year.
Along with Wilson, talented juniors Dewon Trent and Sam Jerrell will be fulcrums of the offense in their first varsity experience.
Xavier is coming off their second straight losing season, rare for the Saints after five straight years of 17+ win seasons, and they also graduated their top two leading scorers.
Their leading returner to this year’s squad is 6’1″ senior guard Max Kaiser, who scored just 4.5 points per game a season ago, so this year’s team has just as many question marks — if not more — than Mount Pleasant, who the Saints beat 54-43 one year ago.
Tonight’s game will tip at 7:30 p.m. from Xavier High School, you can listen along on KILJ-FM, with pre-game coverage beginning at 7:15 with the Panther Tipoff Show.
Other area boys and girls’ basketball in the area tonight:
- Danville at West Burlington
- Mediapolis at Hillcrest Academy
- Holy Trinity at WACO
- Wapello at Columbus
- Winfield-Mount Union at Pekin
Panther Wrestling Starts Season Tonight:
The Mount Pleasant Panther wrestling team will start their 2020-21 season tonight when they host Columbus Community/Winfield-Mount Union in a nonconference dual.
The Panthers return junior Carson Coleman, a State Qualifier last season, and much more on Duane Blint’s talented roster.
Meanwhile Columbus returns 2020 State Medalist Lane Scorpil, who finished 6th at the 2020 State Wrestling Tournament back in February.
Scorpil has his sights set on yet another trip to the Well and will begin that trek tonight.
Wrestling tonight will get underway at 6:30 p.m. from Mount Pleasant High School.
Other wrestling in the area tonight:
- Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont, English Valleys, Mid-Prairie at Wapello
- Ottumwa and Pekin at Davis County
Garza Named B1G Player of the Week:
University of Iowa men’s basketball All-American Luka Garza has been named the first Big Ten Player of the Week of the 2020-21 season following the Hawkeyes’ two victories last week.
The announcement came Monday evening by the Big Ten Conference office.
The 6-foot-11 Garza averaged 33.5 points, 9.5 rebounds, and 3.0 blocks in wins over North Carolina Central (97-67) and Southern University (103-76).
No. 3 Iowa (2-0) will entertain Western Illinois (0-0) on Thursday.
Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. (CT) on Mediacom Court at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Iowa Surges to No. 3 in AP Men’s Poll:
The Iowa men’s basketball team moved up to No. 3 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 Poll:
AP Men’s Top 25
1. Gonzaga (57)
2. Baylor (6)
3. Iowa
4. Wisconsin
5. Illinois
6. Duke
7. Kansas
8. Michigan State
9. Creighton
10. Houston
11. West Virginia
12. Villanova
13. Tennessee
14. North Carolina
15. Virginia
16. Virginia Tech
17. Texas Tech & Texas
19. Richmond
20. Kentucky
21. Oregon
22. Florida State
23. Ohio State
24. Rutgers
25. Arizona State
And in the women’s game:
AP Women’s Top 25
1. South Carolina (29)
2. Stanford (1)
3. UConn
4. Baylor
5. Louisville
6. Mississippi State
7. Arizona
8. NC State
9. UCLA
10. Oregon
11. Kentucky
12. Texas A&M
13. Indiana
14. Maryland
15. Northwestern
16. Arkansas
17. Oregon State
18. Gonzaga
19. Ohio State
20. DePaul
21. Missouri State
22. Syracuse
23. Iowa State
24. Michigan
25. Texas