SPRINGFIELD - It was like Mound City wrote the script.
Tony Osburn pulled up for 3 at the right wing, scored off a Landon Poppa steal and off a takeaway of his own, and the second-ranked Panthers added two more 3s during an 18-2 run.
It was just the start of a 59-39 victory Friday afternoon against the St. Elizabeth Hornets in the Class 1 semifinals at JQH Arena.
"We've played teams like them before," St. Elizabeth coach Caleb Heckemeyer said. "We've got a team just like them in our conference that likes to get up and down the floor, get right up in our grill and play defense. We just came out and struggled."
St. Elizabeth will play the Higbee Tigers this afternoon in the third-place game. Game time is noon at Hammons Student Center.
Mound City (29-1) will take on top-ranked South Iron (24-4) at 2 p.m. today in the Class 1 championship game at JQH Arena.
South Iron defeated Higbee 75-40 in Friday's other semifinal.
Dylan Wobbe scored the first points for the Hornets on a jumper to make the score 5-2.
The Panthers scored the next 13, including a corner 3-pointer from Gage Salsbury and a 3 from the right wing off a shot fake by Lane Zembles. Poppa added a steal and a two-handed slam and Osburn knocked down a jumper for an 18-2 lead at the 2:23 mark of the first quarter.
Osburn scored a game high 26 points, just about a point off his season average, and had 10 rebounds.
Poppa finished at his season average of 16 points and tied St. Elizabeth's Brock Lucas for a game-high in rebounds with 11.
Osburn and Poppa each had four steals as the Panthers defended in the full court and batted away passes in their half-court defense.
"They are going to have to do that for us to be competitive, but I liked when we were in attack mode," Mound City coach Ryan Osburn said. "When Landon and Tony are in attack mode, going to the basket and moving without the ball we're really hard to guard because then they can get the ball to spot-up shooters."
Four of Mound City's seven made 3s came in the opening eight minutes, which ended with the Panthers leading 23-4.
After Tony Osburn made a 3 with 5:43 left in the second quarter, the Hornets outscored the Panthers 7-4 to enter halftime trailing 36-11.
Lucas scored all seven of those points, including a three-point play with just under a minute left in the half.
Lucas scored 15 points to lead the charge for the Hornets, who drove to the basket with outside shots not dropping.
"I liked our drives getting in there," Heckemeyer said. "And when we were kicking it out I was liking (our shots), but we were shooting a little too far behind the line. I wanted them to get a little closer so they can get a rhythm going and see it go through the hoop. Our shots just were not falling."
Carson Kesel was able to score inside and out in the second half, making 2-of-5 from beyond the arc and both of his two-point attempts to score 10 points.
"I told the guys to keep fighting hard, keep trying to get into the paint, eventually we'll start getting some calls," Heckemeyer said.
Mound City led by as many as 33 after Tony Osburn made two free throws to make it 53-20 with 3:21 left in the third quarter.
"I said just put the pedal down," Ryan Osburn said. "And we missed shots but missing shots is going to happen. But if you can keep defensive intensity, which I thought that we did."
A win today would earn St. Elizabeth (18-7) its second third-place trophy in three years.
"Basically the same thing, keep looking to attack," Heckemeyer said of the game plan against Higbee (19-6).