Sometimes you can have a bad day. And sometimes, it is in the playoffs.

Mount Vernon boys’ basketball was upset by Bondurant-Farrar, 54-48, in a Class 3A substate quarterfinal on Monday, Feb. 23.

It was the same Bluejays team that the Mustangs beat 58-47 back on Jan. 24 in the Casey’s Center in Des Moines.

“It happens that way, sometimes,” Mount Vernon coach Derek Roberts said. “We didn’t shot well and didn’t have good enough defense, either.”

The game was tied 25-25 at half, but the Mustangs were hurt by poor shooting most of the night. Mount Vernon shot 13-of-44 (29.5 percent) overall, and just 5-of-20 from 3-point range (25 percent).

Six-foot-6 Bluejays center Drake Pfaltzgraff had a big game with 19 points and 17 rebounds.

“He’s a good player who played well,” Roberts said. “But we let some of their other guys go off, too.”

Senior Blake Sollars and junior Owen Werner each added 11 points.

Kellen Haverback led the Mustangs with 15 points, six rebounds and five assists. Stratton Ellyson added 11 points.

“They didn’t do anything crazy, they just executed a little bit better that night,” Roberts said.

Bondurant-Farrar (6-17) lost in the substate semifinals to Nevada, 70-53. Nevada (21-3) and ADM (21-2) were set to battle for a trip to state Monday night.

Mount Vernon finished 14-7 and will say goodbye to Haverback, who joined the 1,000-point club this season and set the record for career steals, as well as starting center Brogan Meyer. But three regular starters – Seth Rushford, Luke Rushford and Stratton Ellyson – return along with Maddox Thede, Tommy Rhomberg and Koen Wiebel, who all played regularly off the bench. All are juniors.

“It is always good to have a few guys back that know what they are doing,” Roberts said.

The 2025-26 season was a hard one to wrap both arms around. The Mustangs dealt with injuries and a lot of illness.

“We battled influenza, three different rounds,” Roberts said. “But we beat most the teams we were supposed to beat … jut not the last one.”