Nobody goes to Columbia to play for third place.
With less than 24 hours of preparation, Mountain Grove fell 86-76 to Hogan Prep in the Missouri Class 3 boys basketball third place playoff game Friday at Mizzou Arena in Columbia. Mountain Grove coach Duane Hiler felt the Panthers couldn’t seem to shake off the feeling of a 79-72 loss to Transportation and Law the night before.
“It lets a lot of air out of the balloon, you kind of set your sights on (the championship game), and the bad thing is you can go into the next game and it doesn’t take long before you’re in trouble because you’ve still got your mind on the last game,” Hiler said.