Back in mid-December Coach Bob Rowe began to realize just how special this JV team could be. It was then that we began to get on the phone and schedule some top notch competition by which to measure our Mustangs and provide them some challenging competition while the varsity was plying their trade in tournament competition over the holidays.
We invited the McNicholas Rockets into the SyCenter, practiced for two hours, kept Mustang big-man Nathan Mutsch out of action, spotted the Rockets a 16-4 lead and then sent them home to practice, victimized by 24 minutes of relentless Mustang defense and hung the McNick ball on the wall 56-51.
Tonight in the storied Pit, a pretty apt description of the working conditions we were forced to work out of, the Brossart Mustangs took the Panthers coast to coast opening up a 12-8 lead after seven minutes of play (the duration of a JV period in Ohio) and led comforably 25-18 at intermission. The impressive thing about our seven point advantage at halftime was just how bad our guys were outplaying the homestanding Panthers. Brossart moved the ball fluidly, found the open man, took and hit high percentage shots and totally dominated the first fourteen minutes of play in this ballgame. In addition to his superior ball handling, and great defensive pressure, Jimmy Uebel also led the offensive charge in the first half with 11 points.
The third quarter belonged to the Mustangs tranisition game and Kyle Lubbers. Big Lubbs was the beneficiary of pin-point passes by Matt Lloyd and Troy Cooper in hitting two field goals and a free-throw to account for his game high 11 points. Mustang defense limited the "purple people eaters" to only five points as the Mustangs ran out to a 38-23 lead and would never look back.
Elder made the score respectable by connecting on a barrage of late-game threes to cut the final margain to nine at 50-41. The game was NEVER that close.
During the tape-delayed broadcast I posed the question to my partner Larry Livingston - Just how good are these guys??? I can tell you how much fun they are to watch and how scarey and tempting it is to think ahead a year or two down the road and the potential presently wearing JV jerseys. If anyone is foolish enough to think that Brossart High School will suffer through a re-building year next year after graduating seven seniors, they are suffering from serious deluision.
Box Score: Mustangs: Kidney 1-0-1/2-3, Franzen 2-0-0/0-4, Niemeyer 1-0-0/0-2, Lubbers 5-0-1/1-11,
Kramer 1-0-0/0-2, Uebel 3-2-2/2-14, Mutsch 1-0-3/4-5, Cooper 3-0-3/4-9
Totals: 17-2-10/13-50
Panthers: Murray 1-0-0/0-2, Bovard 1-1-0/0-5, Johnson 1-2-2/2-10, Weller 2-0-2/3-6, Rudolph 4-0-0/0-8,
Mallott 1-0-0/0-2, Holmes 2-1-1/1-8,
Totals: 12-4-5/6-41
Bishop Brossart 8-0 Elder 4-4 |
