Mustangs run out of gas in overtime

HYRUM – With 22 seconds left in the fourth quarter senior Ren Fonnesbeck hit two big free throws, after missing his last three, to give Bear River a 72-69 lead. Myles Andrus missed a left shoulder 3 but junior Nick Lefevre got the rebound and found Caleb Archibald who missed a 3 through contact, but Lefevre found the ball again and was able to get it to Tanner Bone in the right corner who swished the tying 3. With five seconds left, Fonnesbeck lost the ball in his own paint to send the game to overtime. However, senior Mark Huber took over in the extra period as the Mountain Crest team ran out of gas and lost 84-75.

Coach Kevin Anderson’s squad got off to a good start against the Bear River Bears, both teams looking for their first region win, leading 16-13 at the end of the first. In the second Tanner Bone scored 9 straight points to push the Mustang lead to 32-21 with 4:05 left in the half. Over the next eight minutes the Bears went on a 25-4 run to push the lead to 46-40 lead with 3:55 left in the third.

Huber came in averaging over 22 points a game but was held scoreless in the first and was visually frustrated by the Mountain Crest defense. The senior scored 8 in the second on his way to a team high 27. He controlled the second half as Coach Reggie Shaw’s team held a steady 6 point lead until the final two minutes of the game.

Bear River shot 74% from the free throw line on the season coming in, but the 89% free throw shooter Fonnesbeck missed three in a row in the fourth and Logan Litchford went only one of four in the final period to open the door for Mountain Crest. Huber had a turnover with 1:25 left in the fourth up 68-62 before Bone hit two big 3’s over the last 85 seconds to lead the Mustangs to overtime.

Huber had 5 of the 12 points in overtime as the Mustangs offense ran out of gas ran and only scored 3 points in the extra period. Litchford finished with 17 and Fonnesbeck had 13, 9 of which came from the charity stripe. Bear River did a ton of damage from the free throw line going 28-42 for the night with three Mustangs fouling out and two others with four fouls.

Leading Mustang scorer Marshall Nethercott found himself in foul trouble yet again playing only five minutes in the first half with two fouls in the first quarter. He picked up a third just over two minutes into the third before he sat for the period. Nethercott finished with 10 points but fouled out along with Caleb Archibald and Myles Andrus.

The Mountain Crest offense was led by junior Tanner Bone who hit nine 3 pointers for a game and career high 31 points, but was held scoreless in overtime. The Mustangs average five made from deep a game but buried 11 from range on the night. Junior Nick Lefevre finished with a season high 14 points.

The Mustangs were whistled a lot in a very physical game and were on the wrong end of free throw attempts, going only 6-10 from the charity stripe. All of Mountain Crest’s attempts were in the fourth quarter and overtime. Lefevre was 4-8 from the line, 1-4 in OT. Three Bear River players had as many attempts or more than the entire Mountain Crest team.

Coach Kevin Anderson’s squad came in averaging just over 42 points per game but surpassed that amount late in the third quarter. The Mustang’s highest scoring game before was 53 in a loss to Bonneville.

Lefevre has built on several solid games in the row getting his first start of the season. With Lefevre’s driving ability, Bone’s shooting and Nethercott the Mustangs might have found something for the rest of Region 11 play.

Up Next
Mountain Crest @ Ridgeline
Bear River @ Logan

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