Mustangs prevail in war of attrition

Friday night the Mountain Crest Mustangs were playing in their sixth game in nine days and third in four days. It would be reasonable to expect any team to struggle after that compact schedule, especially a team that has not protected the ball well all season, but the Mustangs out lasted Judge Memorial 63-53 in a game with a lot of whistles.

The Bulldogs suffered a huge set back when leading scorer Mack Tarver hit the ground hard early in the second quarter and went out shortly after. Tarver returned in the fourth quarter but looked hobbled, finishing well short of his 20 point per game average with just seven. However, the biggest play for the Mountain Crest defense came in the second quarter when forward Deng Mayar picked up his fourth foul on a charge against Austin Young. Judge Memorial was on a 7-1 run to cut the 13 point first quarter deficit to a 20-14 lead by Mayar and Got Daw, but Mayar sitting down derailed the Bulldog momentum in a quarter that saw three blocking and two charging fouls called on the Mountain Crest defensive side.

Kordell Welch had a big shooting night hitting five three pointers and going six for six from the line, leading the team with 25 points, including going back-to-back from deep twice. The first time Kordell hit back-to-back threes put Mountain Crest up 15 for the first time early in the second half and the second made the lead 20. The Mustangs went up 20 with 5:30 left in the game before backing off and turnovers allowed Judge Memorial to finish just 10 down.

Matthew Barber fouled out in the fourth quarter with six points and three other Mustang starters finished with four fouls, but coach Kevin Andersen was able to juggle his rotations enough to not lose anyone before the game was decided. Despite all the fouls against Mountain Crest, Judge Memorial couldn’t take advantage going just 10-20 from the charity stripe. Young was the only other Mustang player in double figures, adding 14.

Junior Caleb Archibald missed all three games this week for Mountain Crest after starting earlier this season, but coach Andersen did stop using a six man rotation against Judge Memorial with junior Mason Baldwin finding his way in to the rotation. The Mustangs went 2-4 in their six games over nine days but now get a week off before hosting Ogden on Friday.

Mountain Crest (2-6)

Judge Memorial (3-4)

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