Buzzer-banker beats Mullen

LITTLETON -- Argh!

New-look Mullen's first foray into the 2019-20 boys basketball season on Tuesday night was encouraging, yet rresulted in a heartbreaker.

The Mustangs lost on a prayer at the buzzer, a thrown-up shot as time expired and banked home.

It was a 58-56 loss, but for a team that opened the season minus its first eight players from a year ago and contained virtually none with any varsity experience of consequence, there were some winning points to take with them.

“We played well and we played hard,” Mustangs head coach Bob Caton said.

The final seconds were vintage nail-biting time, particularly for an opener. With 19 seconds to play and trailing by three points, Mullen inbounded under its basket and didn’t like what it saw, so it called timeout with 11 seconds to go. Inbounding under the basket, 6-foot-7 junior Brayden Carter went off some picks, caught it at the top of the key and drilled a 3-pointer that was all cord that seemed to surprise everyone in the crowd.

But not to be outdone and with 7 seconds to play, the Rebels nearly threw it out of bounds, but University of Colorado signee Luke O’Brien saved it on the far sideline. After a couple of frantic passes, Garrett Rogers grabbed the ball and one-handed a bank shot from the right of the key. It went in.

“It happens,” Caton said.

Ultimately, Mullen’s big effort, headed by Carter, sophomore Josh Lopez, senior Diallo Thompson and Jackson Bond, was done in by some questionable shot selection, inability to rebound, failure to convert some key free throws and a dry stretch of offense. Only four Mullen players scored and one of them had only one bucket. The Mustangs led 39-28 and 44-40 entering the fourth. Plus,
they didn’t make a basket in the fourth until there was 1:30 to play.

“We had a bad stretch there and we had some shots that didn’t fall,” Caton said. “We scrapped … a little here, a little there. If the shot selection was better, I think we could have made a few more.”

However, Carter (23 points and a couple of dunks and blocks) played well inside. Lopez (16 points) and Thompson (15) created some offense from the perimeter. And Bond battled underneath and for an assortment of loose balls.

And despite O’Brien going for 26 points, Mullen enjoyed segments in which he was kept under relative wraps, although as Caton said “he hurt us when he had to and he makes everybody else get wide-open shots.”

Said Carter of his first start: “I liked the environment and I thought we all played hard … but I think we can play better.”

Next for Mullen will be a first-rounder in the first of its two tournaments before the holiday break, the Mullen Kick Off Tournament, 7 p.m., against Lakewood at Hutchison Fieldhouse.