Jordan Leslie meets fate -- and wins
Freshman cans a 3-pointer at the buzzer to push Mullen past Arapahoe 56-55; 'Stangs finish 1st Centennial go-round at an upbeat 4-3.
Fate suddenly presented itself to Jordan Leslie on Wednesday night.
The freshman met it, welcomed it and embraced it.
Leslie’s 3-pointer from the right wing, which just happened to be in front of the Mullen bench, gave the Mustangs a thrilling 56-55 over Arapahoe in Centennial League play at Hutchison Fieldhouse. The victory pushed Mullen to 4-3 overall and in league in completing the loop’s first go-round.
Leslie, in his previous six games, had been tied for last on the team in scoring at 1.8 points and was 1-of-9 shooting from 3-point range.
But he never blinked.
“What a great game,” an ecstatic Mustangs head coach Bob Caton said. “He had the confidence to take it and make it.”
In a back-and-fourth game with the Warriors (2-5, 2-5), Mullen had trailed by eight points late, but wouldn’t go away.
In fact, Caton said, “things went our way.”
Trailing by two points in the final seconds, Mullen misfired, Arapahoe rebounded and the Mustangs were forced to foul. And without a timeout, Mullen got another break – Arapahoe missed the front end of a one-and-one situation.
Jordan Leslie’s brother, Micah, rebounded, fired it to Jordan and he drained the winner.
Once again, senior Brayden Carter topped the Mustangs – he had a game-high 23 points. Josh Lopez added 14.
Mullen also won despite making only 10-of-18 free throws.
An encouraged Caton said “here again, the kids showed a lot of character. We were down, but they kept grinding away and got the win. It’s something we can build on.”
Mullen will resume play on Friday in Aurora at Grandview, tip-off at 7:15 p.m.
MULLEN 56, ARAPAHOE 55
Araoahoe 9 16 17 13 – 55
Mullen 15 12 9 20 – 56
Arapahoe -- Yagey 4 2-2 13, Pranger 4 0-0 10, Sweeney 2 0-0 6, Scheckenbach 3 3-5 11, D’Agostlino 2 0-0 5, Adams 2 0-1 4, Henry 2 2-2 6, Totals 19 7-9 55.
Mullen – J. Leslie 1 1-2 4, Lopez 4 4-7 14, Berg 2 0-0 4, Dominguez 1 0-0 2, Smith 0 0-1 0, Heffern 1 0-0 2, M. Leslie 1 1-2 3, Schmitt 1 2-4 4, Carter 10 2-2 23. Totals 21 10-18 56.
3-pt. goals – Lopez 2, Carter, J. Leslie; Yagey 3, Pranger 2, Scheckenbach 2, Sweeney 2, D’Agostino.
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