Mount Mercy wins final MCC championship

CEDAR RAPIDS - The magical season steeped in tragedy continued for the Mount Mercy men's basketball team last night at the Hennessey Recreation Center.

James Boonstoppel and Kyle Lamaak came off the bench to score 20 points apiece and led the No. 13 Mustangs to a 93-76 win over William Penn in the final Midwest Collegiate Conference championship game. The league is disbanding after this season.

The Mustangs (26-4) earned the conference's automatic berth to the NAIA Division II national tournament. The national tournament is March 11-17 at Point Lookout, Mo.

Mount Mercy will be making its second national tournament appearance in three years and third overall. The Mustangs also qualified in 1996, the only other time they won the Midwest Collegiate Conference tournament.

'It's great,” said senior Jake Misener, the only member of Mount Mercy's current squad to play in the national tournament. He was a sophomore on the 2013 team that qualified via an at-large berth. That same year William Penn finished second in the nation. The Statesmen reached the Elite Eight last year.

'My sophomore year William Penn kicked our butt three times,” Misener said. 'It was nice to still get in the tournament, but this is a lot better.”

It was Mount Mercy's third win of the season against Penn (20-12).

'We've been through a lot this season and we've all stuck together. It means a lot,” said Boonstoppel, who scored 14 points in the first half, which ended with Mount Mercy holding a 49-37 lead.

William Penn ran off the first eight points of the second half to get within four points. The Mount Mercy lead stretched to as many as 14 before foul trouble, missed shots and turnovers carved the margin to 78-71 with 3:46 to play.

'What's going through my mind is, ‘Who do I have on the end of this bench that can step up and make plays?'” Mount Mercy Coach Paul Gavin said.

Lamaak banked home a jumper, Alex Houston scored and was fouled twice, and Lamaak swished a pair of free throws to key a 9-0 run that put the game out of reach.

'I can't say enough about our kids,” Gavin said. 'The resiliency and going through what we've gone through this year with the death of a senior captain (Danny DeBacker), two ACL injuries and (Misener) playing with two shoulders that need surgery.

'It's just a gutsy, gutsy performance.”

DeBacker died in a late September car accident. The team chanted his name and hoisted his jersey along with the championship banner after the game.

'They're a heck of a team,” said William Penn Coach John Henry, whose team was in the championship for the ninth time in 13 years. 'They're on one of those magical runs, having lost that young man. Things are going their way and I hope they can take it a lomg way.”

Houston added 15 points and Donde Osborne 14 for Mount Mercy.

Alec Schwab had 26 points for William Penn.

WILLIAM PENN (76): Oliver Wells 6-16 2-4 16, Jake Guenther 2-8 2-2 8, Alec Schwab 8-18 5-6 26, Sam Sykes 4-5 3-4 11, Erik McGee 1-1 3-10 5, Shane Bosek 0-1 0-0 0, Logan Alexander 1-3 0-0 2, Nick Jeffries 0-1 0-0 0, Jamere Murphy 1-2 2-3 4, Mike Aldeman 1-2 2-3 4. Totals 24-57 19-32 76.

MOUNT MERCY (93): Alex Houston 7-12 1-3 15, Dondre Osborne 4-9 4-6 14, Ian Matos 3-9 0-0 8, Jake Misener 1-4 0-0 3, Ben Struss 0-3 2-2 2, Ray Goines Jr. 1-1 1-2 3, James Boonstoppel 5-11 5-5 20, Blake Murdock 0-0 0-0 0, John Johnson 1-3 0-0 3, Kevin Price-Majors 2-3 1-3 5, Kyle Lamaak 8-15 4-5 20, Kendall Clark 0-0 0-0 0, Derik Gogg 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 32-70 18-26 93.

Halftime - Mount Mercy 49, William Penn 37. 3-point goals - Willliam Penn 9-26 (Schwab 5-10, Wells 2-5, Guenther 2-8, Bosek 0-1, Alexander 0-2), Mount Mercy 11-22 (Boonstoppel 5-11, Matos 2-3, Osborne 2-4, Johnson 1-1, Misener 1-2, Lamaak 0-1). Total fouls - William Penn 21, Mount Mercy 25. Fouled out - Struss. Rebounds - William Penn 42 (McGee 13), Mount Mercy 44 (Lamaak 11). Assists - William Penn 10 (Wells 3), Mount Mercy 23 (Osborne 7). Turnovers - William Penn 17, Mount Mercy 12.