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| Mustangs Shooting Woes Contribute To Their Ouster From The "A" State Tournament By Hazard 41-30 February 3, 2005 |
| Photos Courtesy Of Tim Cooper |
| Click On The Radio At Right To Go To The Broadcast Replay of The Game |
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| "When things go wrong as they sometimes will"........ begins a motivational card that I carried through my military days and have since memorized. Today in the spotlight of the Touchstone Energy "A" State Tournament in the fourth quarter "go wrong" reared its ugly head and our "Return To Richmond" became much too brief of a stay, ending in heartbreak and frustration once again at the hands of the Hazard Bulldogs who edged the Mustangs for a State Title just one short year ago in this same venue. Sporting a 13-3 record, a breeze through the 10th Region "A" Tournament, an outstanding showing in the Fifth-Third Bank Classic back in December, played without the services of one of our top players, and an all-time high in school spirit and enthusiasm for this team, all lent credence to the hope that this would be the year the Brossart Mustangs captured the "A" State Championship and brought the heavy hardware back to the Avenue of Champions. The Mustangs entered the tournament tabbed a slight favorite to cut down the nets on Sunday night, but as we horse players are well aware, there is no such thing as a sure thing and favorites only win 33% of the time. The contest started on a bad note with the Mustangs giving up a pair of layups and spotting the Dawgs a four point lead. Not to worry - after a quick inspirational 30 second time out by Head Coach Mike Code, the Mustangs went on a 9-0 run to take a 9-4 lead, which was short-lived and trimmed to 10-9 at the end of the first period. The two teams battled on relatively even terms throughout the second quarter, with Hazard edging the Stangs 8-7 to knot the game at 17 at intermission. Evan McDole carried the Mustangs through the first half, scoring nine of the Mustangs seventeen points while recording 10 rebounds as our shots failed to find their marks from beyond the arc. The two teams again slugged it out through the third quarter which saw the Mustangs poke a nose back in front at 24-23, despite the fact that we were experiencing shooting woes from the field and experiencing a living nightmare from the free-throw line, connecting on only 3 of 13...... Certainly, things would improve in the fourth quarter. Kevin Smith drained a 3-pointer from the top of the key to open the final period and the Mustangs enjoyed a four point lead at 27-23, hoping to build on the lead and bury the Bulldogs. However, it was then that the Dawgs went on a 9-0 run on two Mustang turnovers which resulted in two Hazard scores, giving the underdawgs a 32-27 lead, enroute to laying an 18-3 run on the Stangs, cutting our stay in Richmond short and sending the Green Team back to the Avenue of Champions empty-handed. The Mustangs failed Dr. Naismith's most fundamental criteria for success at the game of basketball - Failure to put the ball in the peach-basket. |
| Box Score: Mustangs: Seiter 0-1-1/2-4, McCarthy 2-0-0/0-4, Cooper 1-0-1/4-3, Smith 2-1-0/4-7, McDole 5-0-2/4-12 Totals: 10-2-4/14-30 OR-12 DR-25 TR-37 TO-16 Bulldogs: (2)Hoskins 3-1-0/0-9, (10)Olinger 4-0-1/2-9, (15)Bailey 1-0-0/0-2, (23)Patrick 2-0-1/2-5, (42)Walker 2-0-0/0-4, (55)Washington 0-0-5/5-5 Totals: 14-2-7/9-41 OR-6 DR-22 TR-28 TO-12 |