Offensive drought stalls Mustangs in Preston

FILE PHOTO (Megan Nielsen)

PRESTON – Mountain Crest started strong in the opening round of the Preston Indian Classic, coming out aggressive against the Bonneville Bees. Four Mustangs scored as they were tied 15 all with the Bees after the first period. However, turnovers were a problem again in the second quarter as a six minute scoring drought let Bonneville stretch out a 16 point lead halfway through the third. A feverish fourth quarter wasn’t enough as Mountain Crest lost 64-53 to fall to 0-5 on the season.

Six second quarter turnovers stalled the Mountain Crest offense as a 24-20 lead for Bonneville with four minutes left in the second quarter turned into a 16 point deficit three minutes into the third. Mason Baldwin hit a 3 with five minutes left in the third but it was already a 38-22 Bees lead when Mountain Crest finally scored. Bonneville outscored Mountain Crest 19-7 in the second as they opened up a 16 point lead several times and went in to the fourth up 17.

Leading Mountain Crest scorer Marshall Nethercott had a another rough night, only scoring four points going in to the fourth quarter. Nethercott lead a big comeback in the fourth with 11 points, finishing with 15 as the leading scorer, but it wasn’t enough for the Mustangs. Coach Anderson’s squad is still looking for secondary scorers and Myles Andrus had his best game of the season with 13.

The Bees were able to keep up a consistent barrage from the outside making eight 3 pointers on the night as both teams switched to a zone but Bonneville was able to handle it. Carson Johnson led the team with 21 points, including 8 in the fourth. Carson Judy had 13 and Devin McDonald really hurt the Mustang defense in the third quarter rolling off of picks to put in 8 of the Bees 17 third quarter points.

Coach Anderson’s squad showed improvement on offense with eight 3 pointers of their own. The Mustangs were also 5 of 8 from the charity stripe but still had 12 turnovers on the game. Mountain Crest also had to make a lineup change after junior starter Brayden Burnside got hurt against Tooele and had his arm in a sling tonight. Tanner Bone and Connor Willey saw more time because of it and combined for 8 points.

Starting with the Tooele game this past Tuesday, Mountain Crest will play five games in nine days, including three straight in the Preston Tournament. Up next they’ll play Century (who lost to Meridian 81-59) in the consolation bracket at 3 p.m. Friday.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

For security, use of Google's reCAPTCHA service is required which is subject to the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

I agree to these terms.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.