Winning streak reaches 5
Up-and-down 'Stangs hold on for 66-65 road victory at Heritage; Mullen slimbs to 6-4.
LITTLETON -- It was the first game after the holiday break, so, basically, all bets were off.
And they were – Mullen displayed a variety of strengths, went on two scoring binges, blew two leads, shot poorly at the free-throw line (12-of-22) and again had trouble protecting In the final minutes.
However, the Mustangs hung on for a hard-fought 66-65 victory at Heritage in nonleague on Friday night to grab their fifth consecutive victory, climb to 6-4 and keep both student sections standing.
And while they squandered two double-figure advantages – one in each half – and reverted back to early season struggles, head coach Roosevelt Leslie focused on the positive.
“I told the guys,” he said, “there are three seasons of the regular season – pre-break, nonleague and after Christmas. They took it literally. We were a little rusty, but the skill set looked good and we needed to be sharper.
“We’re building on each win. Hopefully, we learned. We’re fortunate to be able to learn from wins. And we want to celebrate five in a row.”
Up and down? Back and forth? The Mustangs led 18-10, trailed 35-30 at halftime, went on an electric 25-4 tear in the fourth quarter and were outscored 26-11 over the final 8 minutes in converting just two baskets.
“For sure,” junior guard Anderson Brendle said, “we have to play under control and try to get easier shots ... we should have won that one by 15.”
Again, Jordan Leslie and Brendle led Mullen. Leslie topped all scorers with 28 points, a red-hot 16 in the third quarter. Brendle went for 23, including five 3-pointers. Others, such as Jack Diasselliss, Ish Aceves and Thomas Stewart, battled and banged inside.
The Mustangs will have their next game in less than 24 hours – they will host always interesting Denver South at Hutchison Fieldhouse on Saturday, 4 p.m., another nonleaguer.
MULLEN 66, HERITAGE 65
Mullen 23 7 25 11 -- 66
Heritage 17 18 4 26 – 65
Mullen – Leslie 10 5-8 28, Brendle 8 2-6 23, Stewart 1 1-2 3, Diasselliss 2 0-0 4, Aceves 2 1-2 5, Jones 0 2-2 2, Jones 0 2-2 2, Castillo 0 1-2 1, Archibald 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 12-22 66.
3-pt. goals – Brendle 5, Leslie 3.
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