Second-quarter drought dooms PCM boys in district loss to Des Moines Christian

CARLISLE — PCM’s boys basketball team played right with Des Moines Christian for most of the Class 2A District 14 championship game on Tuesday.

But a 10-0 run by the Lions in the second quarter pushed Des Moines Christian into a lead it wouldn’t relinquish during a 58-47 victory at Carlisle High School.

The Mustangs trailed by five after one. They fell behind by 11 at halftime and lost by 11 after both teams scored 30 points in the second half.

“They are really good defensively,” PCM boys head basketball coach Fred Lorensen said. “We knew that coming in. We have to make baskets. We had a good plan defensively, but you aren’t going to shut them out.”

Baskets were hard to come by for PCM, especially for players not named Durant Van Dyke and Carson VandeLune. Those two seniors combined to score 33 of the team’s 47 points and the Mustangs got zero points from their bench.

Four players from Des Moines Christian (20-3) reached double figures and the Lions shot nearly 54 percent from the floor despite making only 3-of-15 from 3-point range.

DMC won by 11 and made one more 3 and two more free throws than PCM. The Lions also turned it over just nine times to the Mustangs’ 13.

The Lions weren’t great from long range, but they got quite a few layups on drives to the bucket and Emmett Schelhaas buried a pair of treys during the 10-0 run.

Schelhaas is shooting under 30 percent from 3-point range this season but finished with a team-high 16 points and added five rebounds. He’s averaging nearly 10 points per contest.

“They are hard to guard. They have some quickness. They were not supposed to get to the hoop,” Lorensen said. “We wanted to make them hit outside shots.

“(Schelhaas) made two 3-pointers in the first half, but is not a shooter we were concerned about.”

The Mustangs (14-10) got down by 15 late in the third, but PCM scored the final eight of the frame to get within seven heading into the fourth.

All eight points came from Van Dyke and VandeLune. Cade Lindsay made a jumper before the run and Van Dyke scored inside to begin the spurt.

The next six came from VandeLune, who finished with 12 points, two rebounds and two assists in the loss.

Van Dyke scored a game-high 21 points but 15 came in the fourth. He kept the Mustangs within single digits early in the frame. The Lions eventually went up 18 points before Van Dyke ended the game with eight straight. He finished with 21 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals.

DMC made it difficult for PCM to get the ball to Van Dyke in the first half and when he got it, the Lions came with an immediate double team. He was even triple teamed at times.

“We were trying to get it to him, but they made it difficult. They had a lot of guys around him,” Lorensen said. “If you look at the stats and watch us play, that’s what you should do. They weren’t guarding some of the other guys very closely and when that happens, we have to make shots to make them pay. We didn’t do enough of that.”

Matt Rosonke registered seven points, 11 rebounds and two assists, Lindsay chipped in four points and two rebounds and Jacob Wendt added three points and two assists.

Gavin Van Gorp grabbed two rebounds and Grant Van Veen blocked two shots off the bench.

PCM shot 47.4 percent from the floor, 2-of-12 from 3-point range and 9-of-16 from the free-throw line.

Micah Brandenburg finished with 14 points and three rebounds for the Lions, while Adam Witty collected 11 points and six boards and Landon Craven added 11 points and three rebounds. Witty leads the Lions at 22.4 points per game.

Des Moines Christian faces Pella Christian (17-6) in the 2A Substate 7 championship game at 7 p.m. on Saturday in Pleasantville.