Coach Ben Franzen’s vision of having the Mustangs be an up-tempo, run and shoot-the-three style team, came to fruition Saturday night at the Campbell County Middle School as four different Mustangs recorded double figures and we dropped eleven 3-Pointers on the Camels, who led only once in this contest, 3-2 in the opening minutes of play.  Drooo Steffen, known for his ability to string 3’s, nailed six of them, and led the Mustangs with 20 points.  Carson Hesse not only scored 15 points, including a three-pointer, but also stood in and took a pair of charges.  Brady Boruske contributed a pair of 3’s among his 14 point production, and Nick Cozzi put his team on his shoulders down the stretch, hitting 4 of 4 free-throws and two 2-pointers in the crucial fourth quarter.  Cozzi totaled 10 points on the night and was named the Brossart Player of the Game. 

The Mustangs were hot out of the gate as Brady Bourke scored 9 points in the opening period, Drew Steffen 5, Carson Hesse 7, and Nick Cozzi 2.  We led 23-16 at the quarter stop, and were only outscored 15-14 as we took a 37-31 lead to the locker room at halftime.  The big challenge for those of us who have followed this team throughout this season have seen us squander leads in the second half, was to see if we could sustain our momentum through the first three minutes of the third quarter, and make a serious run down the stretch.    The question was answered when we added 19 third quarter points to our sum total, besting the Camels 19-18, spotting us a 7 points advantage with 8 minutes to play in the game.  A major 3-pointer by Beckett Kuntz turned back a Campbell County mini-run, and when Nick Cozzi hit all of his free-throws down the stretch while collecting a pair of 2-pointers, this one went in the win column, 71-58, amazing the many scribes on hand to cover the so-called “featured” girls game, sending them scrambling to write about this “Spoiler’s Alert” upset win by our now 4-7 Mustangs over the now 9-3 Camels. 

On the Camels side of the ledger, they were led by their go-to guy, Austin Davie, who put up 25 points to earn Campbell County POG honors.  Cade Anthrop added 12 and Braden Elam 10. 

Unfortunately, it appears that Brossart Senior Jackson Steffen has reaggravated his injured right knee and will be lost to us for the remainder of the season.  Jackson came into this season knowing that the knee would require surgery at the conclusion of the season, but elected to wear a brace, and roll the dice, hoping that it would hold up.  For the first 10 and 1/2 games he was getting by with it, until it gave out on him during the Campbell County game Saturday night.  He had previously missed his entire Freshman season with a knee injury.

The Mustangs will be back in action Tuesday night when Pendleton County comes to call for a tripleheader, with the Freshman game tipping off at 5pm, the JVs doing battle at 6pm and the Varsity attempting to post back-to-back wins at 7:30pm

Our JV team will play in the Northern Kentucky Boys Basketball Coaches Association JV Regional Tournament at 2:15pm on Sunday versus Holy Cross at Highlands High School.