Dubuque Hempstead’s Gage Heffernan dropped 27 points on Prairie Friday night in a Mississippi Valley Conference game to secure a 68-47 road victory for the Mustangs. Heffernan had a balanced 15 in the first half and 12 in the second half. 

“Heffernan worked hard and did a good job of leading his team tonight,” said Prairie Coach James Moses, whose Hawks (3-18, 2-14 MVC) had their losing streak extended to 12 games.  “We couldn’t seem to be able to contain him.”

Scoring only six points in the first quarter put the Hawks in a hole that they could not dig out of.  Prairie made a solid run at the Mustangs (9-12, 7-9) in the second quarter and closed the gap.  Hempstead’s Conner Sindberg hit a 3-point basket, was fouled, and made the free throw with 46 seconds left in the half to give Hempstead a seven-point lead. Prairie had no answer the rest of the contest.

“They played a sound and disciplined game tonight and they got the better of us,” said Moses.  “We have a quote in our locker room that says the mind is the place where all progress begins and ends, and our minds weren’t prepared for tonight’s contest.”

Matt MacDougall scored 16 points for the Hawks.  Jacob Aune contributed nine.  Jerome Frazier and Tyler Mougin directed Prairie’s offense that was often forced to settle for perimeter shots by the Hempstead defense. 

Friday night’s game marked the end of the regular season.  Prairie takes on Waterloo West (7-14) at Waterloo in the opening round of the substate tournament on Monday, Feb. 21.

HEMPSTEAD (68):  Johnson 3 0-0 7, Duwe 4 2-2 10, Smith 3-4 8, Leach 3 1-1 7, Heffernan 10 6-9 27, Canfield 0 0-0 0, Sindberg 2 1-1 6, Breitbach 0 0-0 0, Crawford 1 0-0 3, Farrey 0 0-0 0. Totals 25 13-17 68.

PRAIRIE (51):  Frazier 2 1-1 5, Jantzen 3 0-0 6, Lafferty 1 0-0 2, MacDougall 6 0-0 16, Boots 1 0-0 2, Eilers 1 0-0 3, Aune 3 2-2 9, Mougin 0 0-0 0, Goodale 0 0-0 0, Kehoe 0 0-0 0, Dellamuth 1 0-0 2, Rasmussen 0 0-0 0, Schulte 1 0-0 2. Totals 19 3-3 47.

Halftime – Hempstead 31 Prairie 24  3-point goals –, Prairie 6 (MacDougall 4, Eilers, Aune), Hempstead 5 (Johnson, Smith, Heffernan, Sindberg, Crawford). Fouled out -- None.