MUSTANGS BOW OUT. DAVID GOVAN ALL-ACADEMIC, ALL-TOURNMENT. LADY STANGS MOVE ON TO THURSDAY NIGHT TITLE GAME
Many, many times in the past our Brossart Mustangs have been the favorite in semi-finals 10th Region “A” Tournament games, and on fifteen occasions we would go on to cut down the nets and advance to the All “A” State Tournament at EKU. However, on this night it was our Mustangs who were considered underdogs in our semis game with Bracken County. The Polar Bears are seeking only their third (1992 and 1998)10th Region “A” Championship in the history of the event.
We put together a good game plan, which revolved around the Polar Bears having a cold shooting night, our ability to limit turnovers, and the need to get to the free-throw line and hit our charity tosses.
The first goal went up in smoke when the wunderkind, Sophomore Blake Reed, nailed a trio of 3-pointers from plus-NBA range, and quickly we found ourselves trailing 11-3, drawing a Scott Code time-out. The first quarter ended with the Bears in charge 21-10.
The Bears and Blake Reed cooled off in the second period as the Mustangs cut the gap to only six at 27-21, and despite getting good looks, were unable to get any closer as the half ended with the Bears leading 29-21.
We failed our second objective by only being able to connect on 6 of 18 from the free-throw line, while the Polar Bear intensive hit-and-recover man to man defense caused our Mustangs problems from the opening tip. The Bears outscored us 19-15 in the fourth quarter to post the 62-45 to move on to face Calvary Christian at 6pm Thursday evening.
Cayden Reed, the freshman led the Bears with 20 points, Blake Reed put up 18, including five 3-pointers, and 12 for Devante Jefferson. The Bears were 12 of 16 from the charity stripe, and improve to 12-5 on the season. David Govan led the Mustangs with 15, Mason Sepate 14, and Luke Schumacher played the best game of his career while netting 9. The Mustangs fall to 7-10 on the season and will await St. Henry in a NKAC DivII bout at home next Tuesday night. .
Our Lady Stangs, having defeated Bracken County 66-35 back on December 21st, gave cause to expect something of a formality game in the Tuesday night semi-finals. The Lady Bears, plagued with injury and illness, had only played one game in the interim, a win over Augusta. However, as the game got underway and progressed through the first quarter, this one played out as anything but a formality game. Lady Bear Freshman Nicole Archibald scored 7 of her team’s 11 points as the Lady Stangs led 14-11 at the end of the quarter. Our girls would be limited to merely 5 points in the second stanza, being out-scored 8-5 sending the two teams to halftime knotted up at 19-19.
It was then that a very unfortunate event took place. Archibald, who had 11 points at the beginning of the third quarter as the two teams were tied at 20, went down with an ankle injury and was unable to return to the contest, paving the way for the Lady Mustangs to draw off to the 36-25 win.
Olivia Lloyd, who nailed three 3-pointers on the night led all scorers with 12 points as the Lady Stangs punched their ticket to the 10th Region “A” Championship Game this Thursday evening, scheduled for 7:30pm. Our girls wil be seeking their fourth straight 10th Region “A” title, and thirteenth overall.