Turn-around run ends

By Neil H. Devlin, Mullen Sports Information Director
Mustangs downed by No. 1 Chaparral.
Photos by John Leyba, Mullen Sports Photgrapher
After Wedsnesday nigh's 82-57 loss to top-seeded Chaparral in Class 5A's Sweet 16, the Mustangs said farewell to seniors such as Christian Davis, top, and look to next season with juniors Isaac White, below, and Isaac Ondekane, bottom.
 
Usually, only a championship can offset the end of a season.

Mullen found it out on Wednesday night, when host and No. 1 seed Chaparral grabbed control early and rolled the Mustangs 82-57 in the Class 5A Sweet 16.
There was sorrow, lament and hollowness immediately afterward for the Mustangs, but second-year head coach Bob Caton chose to point to the good things accomplished by his group.
“Like I told the seniors, people have been coming up and saying it,” Caton said. “These seniors, they put Mullen basketball back on the map. There’s nothing to be ashamed of, they did a good job.”
The Mustangs finished 16-10 in 2018-19, an improvement from 11-14 a season ago. It also was Mullen’s best showing since going 17-9 in 2007-08.
Their brand of basketball also has been on the upswing and their 7-7 mark in the Centennial League matched their showing in 2009-10. Mullen had been a woeful 10-88 from 2010-17.
After winning two playoff games, including one on the road, the 17th-seeded Mustangs began the game with a left-handed dunk by Isaac Ondekane, but simply couldn’t keep up with the hot-shooting Wolverines, who enter Saturday’s Great 8 21-4. They canned eight of their first 10 shots in taking a 20-15 lead through 8 minutes.
And it was where Mullen hit the proverbial wall – it ended the final minutes of the second quarter with five turnovers, trailed 32-22 at half and scored only nine points over 12 minutes. Chaparral had climbed to a 16-point lead to take firm command.
Scoring droughts against the higher-end competition were a problem throughout the season.
“They shot it very well,” Caton said of the Wolverines. “We were still trying to hang in there, but we hit that one little stretch there that hurt us.”
For Mullen, Isaac White had a team-high 22 points and Ondekane added 14. They are the two juniors who will be the main core of the 2019-20 team.
As for this season’s seniors, Jake Beckish, Christian Davis, Joe Libby, Connor Riepma, Brady Parris, Vaughnn Stitt and Matt Veen will move on with thanks from Caton.
“They’re the ones who have turned it around, a great group,” he said. “and they were a pleasure to coach. I’ve been lucky.”
 Others will get their turns beginning with the off-season and Caton called the program’s prospects “promising.”
It will be an interesting and familiar Great 8 – four Centennial teams, three from the Continental and one from the EMAC, including four from the Aurora area that has taken over big-school play. (1) Chaparral will have (24) Cherry Creek along with (3) Rangeview-(6) Grandview; (4) Overland-(5) ThunderRidge; and (2) Mountain Vista-(7) Smoky Hill.
 
CHAPARRAL 82, MULLEN 57
Mullen –  15  7  14  21  -- 57
 Chaparral –  20  12  20  30  -- 82
Mullen – Davis 1 0-0 3, Stitt 1 2-2 4, White 8 3-4 22, Parris 2 1-2 6, Ondekane 7 0-2 14, Veen 2 1-1 5, Riepma 1 1-2 3, Thompson 0 0-0 0, Lopez 0 0-0 0, Carter 0 0-0 0, Dominguez 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 8-15 67.
Chaparral – Sanders 5 4-5 16, Dalton 4 0-0 11, Lewis 2 4-6 8, Waldron 3 4-4 10, Matthews 8 1-6 17, GIles 4 0-0 9, Baller 1 0-0 3, Patten 1 2-2 5, Czarnecki 0 2-2 2, Ruth 0 0-0 0, Speckman 0 0-0 0, Jacob 0 1-2 2. Totals 28 18-27 82.
3-pt. goals – White 3, Davis, Parris; Dalton 3, Sanders 2, Baller, Giles, Patten.
 
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