Mustangs drop 3rd straight
Score only 17 first-half points.
Photo by John Leyba, Mullen Sports Photographer
Junior center Isaac Ondekane, top, piled up 21 points and 19 rebounds, but Mullen head coach Bob Caton and senior guard Brady Parris fell 67-55 at Smoky Hill to suffer their third consecutive loss in the Centennial League.
Mustangs score only 17 first-half points, have defensive lapses
By Neil H. Devlin
Mullen Sports Information Specialist
AURORA – It wasn’t what they wanted. Not even close.
Mullen’s Mustangs rolled into Aurora on Friday night and got rolled by host Smoky Hill 67-55 in the Centennial League.
They have hit the skids – a three-game losing streak has them at 9-5 overall, 2-4 in league.
And they know what they’re doing wrong, although stopping has proven quite difficult.“Yeah, it was disappointing,” Mullen head coach Bob Caton said. “We dug a hole. (The Buffaloes) played well, but we just have to execute a few things we need to do better.”
The Mustangs scored only 17 points in the first half, made just two 3-pointers, shot 9-of-17 at the free-throw line and had too many key turnovers when attempting to make a move.
“Every game, every game, we play well, then we throw a ball away, we get a travel call … it’s different every time,” Caton said. “We can invent things to go wrong.”
And defense, or the lack of it, is becoming another problem. When the Mustangs were pressing, the Buffaloes beat them down the floor multiple times for layups.
“We have to defend,” Caton said. “We didn’t get back and that’s just something we can’t do. We can’t give those cheap baskets.”
Smoky Hill, now 13-2, 5-1, only trailed twice early when the two were trading baskets. But the Buffaloes re-grabbed the lead, benefitted when the Mustangs made only 2-of-11 shots in the second quarter and led 32 -19 at the break.
While Mullen, mostly behind junior center Isaac Ondekane (21 points, 19 rebounds) and Brady Parris (seven quick points), made a move in the opening minutes of the third quarter, the Buffaloes regrouped. Even with Mullen holding down Buffs senior Kenny Foster for a bit (no points in the first quarter), the Mustangs were hurt by Jalen Weaver (23 points), Jordan Whitaker (12) and Quinen Rock (10). And 13 of Foster’s 19 points came in the middle quarters.
Christian Davis added 11 points for Mullen.
Afterward, Caton reminded his team about the difficult Centennial stretch they’re enduring, including seven-of-eight games on the road, but remained undeterred.
“It’s still a long season, a lot of games to play,” he said.
On Saturday, the Mustangs will host an all-day salute to the old Parochial League with an assorted level of games, including matchups in girls (5:30) p.m.) and boys (7 p.m.) that won’t count against their 23-game schedule in the regular season.
SMOKY HILL 67, MULLEN 55
Mullen 12 7 18 18 – 55
Smoky Hill 17 15 13 22 – 67
Mullen – Davis 4 2-4 11, Veen 2 1-2 5, Stitt 0 0-0 0, Parris 3 0-0 7, Ondekane 9 3-8 21, White 2 3-3 7, Thompson 0 0-0 0, Riepma 2 0-0 4, Beckish 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 9-17 55.
Smoky Hill – Rock 5 0-0 10, Weaver 7 8-10 23, Whitaker 4 4-4 12, Tuom 1 0-0 2, Foster 9 0-0 19, Darnell 0 0-0 0, Cortez-Latham 0 0-0 0, Walker 0 0-0 0, Horn 0 1-2 1. Totals 26 13-16 67.
3-pt. goals – Davis, Parris; Foster, Weaver. Fouled out – Cortez-Latham.
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