Tigers Take TRMC Large School Crown

The Mount Pleasant Tigers hosted 12 teams in their annual TRMC Tiger Town Tournament held at Willie Williams Gym Dec 9-11. Two divisions, large and small schools, competed for the tournament championship, with the large schools playing a round-robin and the small schools playing traditional pool and bracket play. The Mount Pleasant Tigers brought home championship-winning games versus some stiff competition. Chapel Hill also performed well before falling into Bowie’s championship game in a hard-fought rematch from earlier.

Mount Pleasant 70
Nacogdoches 53
The Tigers opened the tournament Thursday afternoon versus bi-district rival Nacogdoches. A slow start saw the Tigers go down 16-8 to start the game, but a solid second-quarter put the Tigers back on top 29-24 entering the half. In the third quarter, the Tigers continued that offensive pace, leading to 53-42 heading in the last frame. The lead ballooned to 18 points as the Dragons tried to mount a comeback but were unsuccessful. Payton Chism connected on four shots from deep for game-high 20 points along with four assists. Elijah Morris added 11 points, and Kelcey Morris filled the stat sheet with 10 points, five rebounds, six assists, and four steals. Ervin Mickens added 6 points, Will Hills 5 points, Kai Price 5 points, Edward Wilder 5 points, Luke Hampton 5 points, and Reggie Webster 3 points.

Mount Pleasant 60
Denton Braswell 55
In Thursday’s nightcap, the Braswell Bengals gave the Tigers all they could handle. After the Tigers barely escaped Braswell in last year’s regular-season match-up, the coaches anticipated a tightly played game. Instead, Mount Pleasant once again started slowly finding themselves down 18-9 at the end of one-quarter of play. The Tiger defense regrouped and fought back in the second quarter as the score stood at 31-29 Braswell at the half. The defense continued to play the rest of the way very physically, turning the Bengals over 23 times on the night. The hot shooting of Braswell kept things close, but the Tigers were able to escape with the win. Edward Wilder led all scorers with 19 points and four steals. Payton Chism was one steal shy of a triple-double with 13 points, ten assists, and nine steals, and those nine steals set a single-game record for Mount Pleasant. Kelcey Morris chipped in 12 points and seven rebounds. Will Hills had seven points, Elijah Morris seven, and Ervin Mickens two.

Mount Pleasant 68
Dallas Lincoln 46
In their final tournament game, Mount Pleasant played much more rounded, jumping out to an 18-6 advantage over Lincoln in the first quarter. From there, it was cruise control as the Tigers never trailed, leading by 20+ points for most of the game. Elijah Morris led the Tigers with 12 points and eight rebounds. Edward Wilder added 11 points, and Kelcey Morris posted a solid line of 10 points, five rebounds, five assists, and four steals. Luke Hampton caught fire off the bench with nine points, Will Hills added eight points and seven rebounds, and Reggie Webster scored seven points. Payton Chism had five points, five rebounds, and six assists. Kai Price, Johnny Smith, and Braylon Jones were other scorers with two points each.

With the Tigers 3-0 record in the tournament, they crowned them champs, with Denton Braswell finishing 3-1 for runner-up. Payton Chism was named tournament MVP, and Kelcey Morris earned All-Tournament Team.

Mount Pleasant Chapel Hill won their pool and semi-final game before falling to Bowie 59-44 in the championship game. Vincent Rodriguez and Braden Buchanan earned All-Tournament Team honors.

TOURNAMENT MVPs:
Payton Chism – Mount Pleasant
Cade Thompson – Bowie

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM:
Kaden Ford – Alvarado
Jacob Burleson – Avinger
Brody Armstrong – Bowie
Amarion Black – Clarksville
Kelcey Morris – Mount Pleasant
Deshaun Burns – Dallas Lincoln
Winky Williams – De Kalb
Dylan Smith – Denton Braswell
Jonathan Owen – Linden-Kildare
Jalen Hale – Longview
Briley Barron – Maud
Vincent Rodriguez – Chapel Hill
Braden Buchanan – Chapel Hill
Jaylon Steadman Nacogdoches
View on teamapp.com

Tigers Clobber Jefferson, 83-37

Mount Pleasant Basketball | News | by Drew Barkley

On Tuesday night, the Mount Pleasant Tigers pushed their win streak to four games as they quickly handled the Jefferson Bulldogs in a non-district matchup. Every player scored for the Tigers as they controlled the game from the tip.

Mount Pleasant jumped out to a 25-2 advantage to start the game, including a 19-0 run to end the first quarter. Jefferson put up a fight in the second, matching the Tigers bucket for bucket, but the deficit was left unchanged as the score was now 42-19 heading into the locker room. In the third quarter, the Tigers tightened up the defense, increasing the lead 65-28, and coasted in the fourth quarter for the victory.

Will Hills scored a team-high 18 points and brought down eight rebounds. Payton Chism hoisted 15 points along with three steals. Luke Hampton also scored in double figures with 11 points. Elijah Morris was a spark for the Tigers adding eight points, eight rebounds, and four steals, and Kai Price had one of his best games of the season with seven points and five rebounds. Edward Wilder and Kelcey Morris chipped in six points, with Morris also notching a team-high eight assists. Other scorers were Ervin Mickens’ four points, Reggie Webster’s four points, Johnny Smith’s two points, and Antez Jeffery’s two.

The Tigers improve their record to 8-5 on the season. On Friday, the Tigers travel to Mesquite Horn (8-8) to take on the Jaguars.