It's Friday night, the Mustangs are still in Richmond, and will play University Heights in the Saturday semi-finals at 3pm on Saturday.
It didn't come easily. The Brossart Mustangs jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead and then extended the lead to 8 at 10-2, but Gallatin County didn't get to be a 20-3 ball team by rolling over and playing dead. As we well know, games are played to 40 and not 10 and Gallatin County battled back to trail by only 4, 13-9 after one period of play.
The Mustangs hung tough through the first part of the second period before turning the ball over 9 times and allowing the Wildcats to knot the score at 23 at the half.
Gallatin County cashed in on the first basket of the second half, giving the Cats their first lead of the night at 25-23, but the Mustangs were up to the task as Bryan Niemeyer single-handedly kept the Stangs in the game by scoring the next four Mustang baskets, two coming off of Jimmy Uebel assists, and Jimmy added the only other Brossart point with a free-throw as the Mustangs clung to a one point lead at 32-31with eight minutes left to play.
Brossart had a three-point lead on several occasions in the fourth quarter and a five point bulge with 41-36 with 1:43 to play in the game. It was then that Senior Nathan Edmondson decided to put the Cats on his back and take them to the semi-finals. A basket and two free-throws later and the Cats were within one at 45-44, with the clock running down, when following a Josh Kidney free throw miss, he made a spin move in the paint and had the ball deflected away that rolled out of bounds, last touched by a Mustang and only .2 seconds left to play in the game.
Following a pair of time-outs, the Cats had no choice but to lob the ball in the direction of the hoop, hoping for a miracle tip-in, when Troy Cooper emerged from out of the crowd to swat the ball away and save the day for the Mustangs, improving to 19-3 on the season, and advancing the Mustangs to the semi-finals of the Touchstone Energy All "A" State Tournament on Saturday versus University Heights at 3pm. |
