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| Late Game Nosedive Deprives Mustang Freshmen Of Dixie Heights Ball On the Wall December 13, 2004 |
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| As the Mustangs opened up a 28-19 lead late in the third quarter I was already composing the feature story in my mind. I would dig out the old "Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" song from the archives and put it on the homepage and write about how a bunch of guys who had just taken a 23 point butt-whipping from their crosstown neighbors less than 72 hours ago, could re-group and outplay, out-execute, out-score, out-rebound, outsmart, and upset a quality 4-A freshmen team with a winning record. I was proud of our guys and happy for Freshmen Head Coach Mike Schack who was no longer taking "baby steps" but making great strides towards making this team competitive and a contender. For fifteen minutes and forty-two seconds that was the scoop. Our Mustangs flat outplayed them and appeared enroute to posting the upset and joining Northern Kentucky's elite, if only for a night, enjoying a 28-19 lead when disaster struck. Two three bangers and a field goal later the Colonels had closed the gap to 28-27 in the final two minutes and eighteen seconds of the third quarter to trail by only a point with six minutes to play. From that point on bad went to worse and worse went to disasterous as the Colonels poked a nose in front 29-28 at the 4:30 mark in the fourth quarter and the Mustangs woes would only snowball into a 39-30 loss. Nick Bleha came from off the bench with under a minute to rescue the guys in green from a scoreless quarter by hitting a baseline J. The Colonels had rattled off 12 unanswered points and outscored our Mustangs 20-2 from the time the Mustangs enjoyed their largest lead back in the third quarter. After taking an early-game lead the Mustangs played competitive ball throughout the entire first quarter, executing their offenses, getting some good looks, getting the ball to the basket and drawing Dixie fouls. Poor free-throw shooting deprived the Mustangs the first quarter lead, as we could only connect on two of eight first quarter charity stripe opportunities. The second period was all Brossart. Adam Clark stepped up and demonstrated his quick hands and open floor play by putting eight points on the board, triggering a 14-4 Mustang run, sending the Stangs, who had only turned the ball over five times in the half, to the locker-room on top 22-17. Speculation among the scorers' table crew was that if the Mustangs could survive the first three minute s of the second half with the Colonels who were receiving a blistering from their coaching staff, and either maintain the lead or build on it that this might indeed be a night to remember for the 2004-05 Freshmen Mustangs. As hoped the Mustangs built on the lead during the first three minutes of the third quarter, outscoring the Colonels six-two before the wheels came off. In the fourth quarter the Mustangs lost their poise and the lead, reverting back to the 78rpm out of control group which produces more turnovers than points, failing to get into any semblance of offense or good shot selection allowing the Colonels to convert our 15 second half turnovers into easy baskets, stealing the victory away from the home team and dodging a major Mustang bullet. The Mustangs, who fall to 1-4 but have shown bright spots in each of their five contests will get another chance to put together four solid quarters and bag a bluebird on Wednesday night at 7:30pm when Highlands comes to call. Box Score: Ridder 0-0-1/4-1, Ruberg 3-0-0/0-6, Neltner 1-0-0/2-2, Clark 3-0-2/2-8, Moore 1-0-0/0-2, Bleha 1-0-0/0-2, Stortz 4-0-0/0-8 Total Mustangs: 13-0-4/10-30 Total Colonels: 14-3-2/4-39 |
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