Mount Pulaski Hilltoppers crush Cerro Gordo 67-26

[December 02, 2017] 

Mount Pulaski had no trouble on the basketball court Friday night in front of the hometown crowd crushing Cerro Gordo 67-26.

The Hilltoppers led 18-5 at the end of the first quarter with Peyton Taylor tossing in eight points, including a dunk.

Mount Pulaski continued to dominate in the second quarter and held the Broncos to just two points. Geezus Oliver connected for the final seven points of the quarter and his three before the halftime buzzer was nothing but net to give the Hilltoppers a 30-7 lead going into the locker room.

Nate Dyer opened the Mount Pulaski scoring with a three in the third quarter and the Hilltoppers were once again off and running. Baskets by Trevor Hayes and Drew Martin just kept padding the Hilltopper lead. Back to back buckets by Taylor also fell through, one being on a sweet alley-oop pass from buddy Seth Huff.

Finally, sophomore Dustin Murphy’s layup with 2:18 left to play in the third quarter gave Mount Pulaski a 30-point lead, 43-13 the score.

The Broncos were no doubt struggling against the Hilltoppers. Before the quarter ended Huff would hit a three from the top of the key and Mount Pulaski was in total command, leading 50-15.

The final eight minutes were just as tough for the Broncos. Mount Pulaski had one steal after another, leading to some easy layups and while the Broncos had their biggest quarter scoring eleven points, it was no way near enough.

Fan favorite Joey Davis came in off the bench and hit the last two baskets for Mount Pulaski and the Hilltoppers could write this one in the book, 67-26 the final score.

Peyton Taylor had yet another double-double for Mount Pulaski. His 16 points and 11 rebounds led the Hilltoppers. Geezus Oliver tossed in 11 points and Dustin Murphy contributed 10 points for Mount Pulaski.

The Hilltoppers improve to 6-1 on the season.

The Mount Pulaski JV team also picked up a victory, winning 57-51 in a comeback effort over Cerro Gordo in the earlier contest.

Dustin Murphy led Mount Pulaski with 20 points in the JV game and Brandon Kretzinger tossed in 15 points for the Hilltoppers.

Varsity scores by quarter:

Cerro Gordo 5 7 15 26
Mount Pulaski 18 30 50 67

Mount Pulaski (67)

Taylor 16
Oliver 11
Murphy 10
Huff 6
Hayes 6
Dyer 6
Martin 5
Davis 4
Kretzinger 2
Kirk 1

Cerro Gordo (26)

McDermith 8
Moore 5
Wittmer 4
Fogerson 2
Hayes 2
Kinsella 2
Winters 2

JV scores by quarter:

Mount Pulaski 12 24 36 57
Cerro Gordo 8 20 43 51

Mount Pulaski JV (57)

Murphy 20
Kretzinger 15
Davis 8
Pharis 6
Lawson 4
Kirk 2
Hagen 2

Cerro Gordo (51)

Moore 19
Vogel 16
Cockrum 9
Kinsella 6
Fogerson 1

[Teena Lowery]