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| Mustangs Continue To Improve Battle Highlands For Four Quarters Fall To Bigger-Badder Birds 43-33 December 15, 2004 |
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| At the moment this freshmen team is not being judged by wins and losses, but by their ability to compete and show continued improvement game to game. Two nights ago vs Dixie Heights these Mustangs outplayed their 4-A rivals for nearly three quarters until the wheels came off. Tonight vs Highlands the Mustangs again showed major improvement and put together four complete quarters of basketball, albeit with a few misques and continued room for major improvement. Nineteen turnovers is the stat that requires prompt attention - sometimes we simply throw the ball away, boxing off and rebounding is another, and increased accuracy from the free throw line needs also to be addressed. The Mustangs battled the Birds to a three point deficit 14-11 after a period and trailed only 18-15 at the half as Adam Clark provided much of the offensive output with seven first half points. The Mustangs also shredded the Birds press, causing them to take a time-out and abandon the full-court strategy until they could get to the locker-room and talk it over. The Stangs fell behind 31-22 after three quarters but then did an amazing thing. Instead of panicking and throwing in the towel we instead dug in deeper and fought back.. Sparked by a Brandon Cummins three-ball and a pair of layups by Ryan Neltner and Ben Ridder we rallied to within two points at 33-31 with 4:02 to play in the contest. At the 3:27 mark the Mustangs lost their big man Greg Stortz, (who also showed signs of wanting to go to war by putting us six points) via the foul route, and flattened out a bit, allowing the Birds to go on a 10-2 run, eight of which came from the free-throw line as the Mustangs were forced to foul. A Nick Bezold put-back would end the Mustangs scoring for the night, but the home team earned the respect of the Bluebirds who had cruised in thier previous three wins. Things won't get any easier for the Mustang greenies as they will host Cincinnati Oak Hills on Saturday night in the lidlifter of the Freshmen/JV doubleheader at 5:30pm and 7:00pm. The games will be broadcast live on the internet. Our thanks to Mr. Tim Cooper who came in specifically to shoot some photos of the Brossart Freshmen for use on the website. |
| Box Score: Brossart: Ridder 2-0-2/4-6, Neltner 1-0-3/5-5, Cummins 0-1-0/0-3, Clark 3-0-1/2-7, Bezold 1-0-0/0-2, Moore 2-0-0/0-4, Stortz 3-0-0/2-6 Totals Mustangs: 12-1-6/13-33 Mustangs 1-5 Highlands: Cecil 2-0-0/1-4, Simons 1-0-1/4-3, Ball 2-0-0/1-4, Stein 5-0-2/2-12, Hurtt 1-0-1/2-3, Eaton 2-0-0/1-4, McGraw 2-1-6/6-13, Total Bluebirds: 15-1-10/16-43 Birds 4-1 |
| P H O T O S B Y T I M C O O P E R |