MPHS – Tiger Basketball

The second annual Red River Hoopfest took place last weekend on the campus of Texas High School, and the Mount Pleasant Tigers joined up with some of the top teams from Texas and surrounding states to put on a great event. A highly anticipated matchup with 6A Putnam City West out of Oklahoma City saw the Tigers turn the game into a Hoopfest as Mount Pleasant ran away with the win, 78-45. Both the defense and offense were firing on all cylinders. The Tigers forced 23 turnovers and shot 57% from the field.

The game was back and forth early as Mount Pleasant took a slim 15-10 lead after one-quarter of play. But that would be as close as Putnam City would get with the Tigers using a 16-3 run to pull away in the second. The Tigers knocked down five three-pointers in the first half en route to an astounding 8 for 15 mark from behind the arc for the game. Mount Pleasant would close out the first half with a 38-21 advantage, and it would be more of the same the rest of the way.

The third quarter was all Tigers as Mount Pleasant put together stop after stop and continued to fill up the hoop on the other end. The Tigers won the third quarter 24-12, increasing their lead to 62-33 before cruising to victory in the final eight minutes.

All Tiger players got in on the scoring action for the first time this season. Payton Chism recorded his first double-double of the season with 14 points and ten assists, pulling down five rebounds for good measure. Kelcey Morris poured in 13 points of his own to go along with five assists and three steals as the Tigers set a season-high with 23 assists on 30 made baskets. Reggie Webster put up 12 points with four boards. Xavier Hills and De’Keivous Heath chipped in 9 points, with Luke Hampton adding 7 points. Kai Price and Carter Chism each added 6 points, with Chism also notching five assists. Kyler Smith scored 2 points with four rebounds.

The Tigers (8-0), now ranked 19 in the state, will host 22 Bullard on Tuesday in their first home game. It will be a week full of basketball as the TRMC Tiger Town Tournament kicks off on Thursday, with the Tigers having two games on the slate. Mount Pleasant will open with Princeton at 12:30 PM and play the nightcap versus Braswell at 8:00 PM. All tickets and passes can be purchased online at www.mpisd.net/athletic-tickets.