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WEST BRANCH – What else would you expect in a matchup between River Valley Conference South Division rivals West Branch an Mid-Prairie than a down to the wire thriller?

Dating back to 2020 the two had met six times prior to Friday night’s showdown in West Branch with five of those games decided by six points or less and three of those games by three or less.

Friday was more of the same.

West Branch made the big plays late to pull away for a 64-54 win over Mid-Prairie snapping a two-game losing skid to the Golden Hawks in the first of two regular season meetings between the two teams this season.

“We just told our guys, we’ve got to limit our turnovers and other team’s offensive rebounds,” West Branch coach Jason Kern said. “And I thought our guys did a great job of eating some clock there at the end, and really taking care of the basketball and getting good possessions, getting that thing to two or three and then four or six.”

The win snapped a three-game skid to open the season for West Branch which lost consecutive road games to River Valley Conference North Division foes Dyersville Beckman and Monticello to open the season before falling at home to Class 3A Solon.

Reese Trepanier had 23 points and seven rebounds to lead the Bears while Holden Arnaman had 19 points and Jack McCullough added 18.

“You know the biggest thing is, our first three games, we had probably one of the toughest schedules in 2A,” Kern said. “We could not put a complete game together. It was either, the first two quarters, we get down 20, and then we’re fighting back. We finally finished one.”

Mid-Prairie led 18-12 before West Branch closed the half with back-to-back 3-pointers.

From that point, neither team would lead by more than three points until Mid-Prairie senior Camron Pickard went on a 9-2 run by himself to give the Golden Hawks a 40-35 lead.

Pickard finished with 23 points to lead Mid-Prairie.

“Holden was guarding (Pickard) and got in foul trouble so then we had to put someone else on him,” Kern said. “It was a very well officiated game, they let you get away with a lot tonight. So we had to adjust to that. There was a lot of contact, which I like those kind of games, it was even on both sides.”

McCullough hit a pair of threes to cut the lead to 45-41 and Arnaman scored eight points during a 13-4 run that put West Branch on top 51-46 early in the fourth.

A Pickard basket cut it to one possession, but McCullough was left wide open in the corner and hit his fourth 3-pointer of the game to extend the lead to six and the Bears led by multiple possessions the rest of the way.

“We really locked in and started scoring a lot,” McCullough said. “Free throws, we went 10 for 12 on the night, so that’s always good. And we finally kind of figured it out on defense, we started switching the handoffs. We stopped them from scoring and we just locked in.”

West Branch shot 51 percent from the field on Friday and got four rebounds and four assists from senior Andy Henson.

Arnaman had four assists and three rebounds and Carver Boelk and Trepanier each had four steals.

Alex Bean had 14 points and nine rebounds for Mid-Prairie.

“The biggest thing was, we knocked down free throws down the stretch and took care of the ball down the stretch when it mattered,” Kern said. “They got one shot per possession, we boarded it, and it went the other way. So if we keep doing that and getting these guys to buy into their roles, and finally, hopefully, getting everybody healthy. We could be pretty good.”

West Branch (64) – Reese Trepanier 23, Holden Arnaman 19, Jack McCullough 18, Carver Boelk 2, Andy Henson 2

Mid-Prairie (56) – Camron Pickard 23, Alex Bean 14, Shawn Dodds 8, Ace Peck 4, Dylan Henry 4, Brady Weber 2, Collin Miller 1

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