William Penn and Mount Mercy are one-two in the Midwest Classic Conference men’s basketball race heading into their showdown on Saturday in Cedar Rapids. Penn is at the top with an 8-1 mark and coach John Henry’s team was the pre-season favorite after winning the regular season title last year.
Henry says they have a good group of seniors who have been through this before. He says their success begins on the defensive end. Henry says he likes the tough style of outrebounding and hustling people.
Penn has won seven straight. Their only conference loss occurred back on January sixth, a 77-60 loss at home to Mount Mercy. Mount Mercy is 7-2 in the conference standings and coach Paul Gavin had a number of experienced players back from a year ago, and added key transfer Curtis Kilgore.
They started 1-4, but Gavin says since Thanksgiving they’re 13-4. The Mustangs feature a balanced attack. Five players average between eight and a half and 12 and a half points per game.