Carter's turn for a buzzer-beater
Senior drills a 30-footer as time expires for a 43-40 victory at Grandview; back-to-back thrillers for the Mustangs, who improve to 5-3.
AURORA – Whose turn is next?
“I’ll tell you,” Mullen head coach Bob Caton said. “What a week! What a week!”
On Wednesday, freshman Jordan Leslie cashed a 3-pointer, about a 23-footer, at the buzzer to beat Arapahoe by a point at home.
On Friday, it was Brayden Carter’s turn. The senior and Regis signee grabbed an inbounds pass with 1.2 seconds to play and drilled a 30-footer for another dramatic Mustangs victory, this one 43-40 on the road.
It pushed the Mustangs to 5-3 overall and in the Centennial League, and halted their previous win-one, lose-one stretch.
“It was fabulous and isn’t that crazy?” the veteran Caton wondered. “I’ve never been around that – one week and you have two last-second shots to win.”
Carter grabbed the pass from junior Micah Leslie at the left sideline, turned and fired. In the earlier last-second victory, Micah Leslie also rebounded and zipped the pass to his younger brother for the winner.
It capped what Caton termed as “an ugly game … both teams played pretty good defense and worked for good shots.”
Carter topped Mullen with 17 points despite 4-of-11 free-throw shooting. Micah Leslie added nine.
After losing 18-of-19 games to the Wolves (2-6, 2-6), Mullen has won the past two.
The Mustangs will host league-leading and undefeated Cherry Creek (8-0, 8-0) on Monday, tip-off at 7:15 p.m.
“I told the kids we didn’t have the bounce in our legs and we were not thinking real good, but we went home with a ‘W,’” Caton said. “And we’ll take it.”
MULLEN 43, GRANDVIEW 40
Mullen 15 6 10 12 -- 43
Grandview 12 10 6 12 -- 40
Mullen – J. Leslie 1 0-0 3, Lopez 0 0-0 0, Berg 1 0-0 3, Dominguez 1 0-0 3, Smith 0 0-0 0, Heffern 2 0-0 6, M. Leslie 4 1-2 9, Schmitt 1 0-0 2, Carter 6 4-11 17. Totals 16 5-13 43.
Grandview – Hayes 1 0-0 2, Broadus 5 0-0 12, Handy 1 0-0 2, Burr 1 0-0 2, Rulio 0 0-2 0, Gutierrez 6 5-5 20, Watters 0 0-2 0, Thompkins 1 0-0 2, Onyenwere 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 5-9 40.
3-pt. goals – Heffern 2, Berg, Carter, Dominguez, J. Leslie; Gutierrez 3, Broadus 2.
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