The Mount Pleasant Tigers took care of business on Tuesday with their first round matchup against the Porter Spartans at Palestine High School. The Tigers entered the bi-district round having won three straight first round games and looking to set a new single season record for wins. A poor shooting night did not derail Mount Pleasant as they cruised to the 57-38 victory advancing to the Area round for the sixth time in the past seven years.

Payton Chism opened the scoring for the Tigers on a pull-up 15 foot jumper off a feed from Carter Chism. Porter would respond however with an easy bucket inside on a Tiger defensive miscommunication to set the score tied at 2-2. The Tigers would fail to convert on the other end but a steal would set up an easy deuce in transition on an alley-oop pass from Payton Chism to Kai Price to give the Tigers back the lead at 4-2. The Spartans would keep the inside game going scoring two more points in the paint setting the score at 4-4 before the Tigers would use a quick 10-0 run to gain some momentum. The rest of the quarter would be back and forth as the Tigers led 18-10 at the buzzer.

The second quarter would make things interesting as the Tigers hit a cold spell from the field and Porter took advantage of a 9-0 run to take the lead at 21-20. Mount Pleasant shot 3 for 10 in the quarter and 0 for 5 from beyond the arc but responded by closing out the quarter on a 6-0 run to set the score at 26-21 entering the break.

The second half would be all Mount Pleasant as the rest at halftime would allow the Tigers to regroup and bring the defensive intensity back into the game. The Tigers took 15 steals in the second half enroute to forcing 35 turnovers on the night which led to 37 Tiger points. A 17-7 third quarter all but put the game away as the Tigers coasted the rest of the way.

Payton Chism led all scorers with a game high 21 points (8-17 FG, 5-9 FT) with 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 6 steals. Kelcey Morris poured in 15 points (6-8 FG, 1-3 3Pt, 2-3 FT) with 1 rebound, 1 assist, and 2 steals. Kai Price also scored in double figures with 11 points (4-9 FG, 1-4 3Pt, 2-3 FT) with 2 rebounds, 1 steal, and 2 blocks. Reggie Webster filled up the stat sheet with 5 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 5 steals and Chris Williams and A’Shad Smith got in on the late action with 2 points each. Luke Hampton added 1 point. Carter Chism failed to score but notched a team-high 7 steals and 4 assists.

The win put the Tigers in rarified air as they set a new single Mount Pleasant record for wins at 34. The road will only get tougher as 4 Mount Pleasant is set to face off with 8 Forney on Friday at Tyler Junior College. It should be an electric atmosphere with 12 Lufkin and 13 Red Oak set to play a double header beginning at 6:00 PM with the Tigers set to play at 7:30 PM. Tickets can be purchased at the gate or online at www.apacheathletics.com/tickets. Radio broadcast will be on K-Lake 97.7 or https://www.youtube.com/@NETsnLive. Live stream will be available on NFHS Network https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/events/uil/gam21e2b6e298