By Mickey Hines

The freshman Mustangs were trying to continue improving their 9-8 record last Thursday night. The Stangs started off  winning the tip. After two minutes of offense Gabe Randall shot a three-pointer, starting a good night for him. After consecutive scores by the Cardinals they took an early lead. Head Coach Ben Knake said the Mustangs started out slow, allowing too many rebounds. However, early three pointers by Randall and Matt Martin kept the Stangs in the game. The first quarter score was 10-13.

“The game was just clicking for me,” said Randall after scoring 15 in the first half. The Cardinals’ zone was keeping the Mustangs on their heels and led to many steals and baskets. The second quarter moved very fast but ended with a buzzer beater three-pointer by Cam Butterbaugh to end the half, 27-31. The turnovers at half were 11 for Mount Vernon and 3 for Maquoketa which was a huge difference.

Maquoketa came out at half with intense defense as if they were playing from behind but couldn’t stop Randall. He had an explosive early third quarter and brought the Mustangs’ deficit to being down by one. The Cardinals started to force some crucial turnovers, and shut down Blake Booth who last game put up 31 points. The game started to heat up and led to a huge double foul when players were wrestling for the ball, leading to an injury and a 10-minute delay. This was right before the end of the third quarter, 39-44 Maquoketa lead.

Early in the fourth quarter the game was back and forth. The Cardinals started to come in the clutch and made oodles of baskets. The Mustangs tried to shoot over the zone but couldn’t come through. “Their zone confused us, but Gabe (Randall) kept us in it,” said Booth. The zone led to fast transitions for Maquoketa and the Stangs got caught up in foul trouble. The Mustangs lost 61-48.

Coach Knake told his team to control their attitude, energy and effort in the next game

“We just need to score more points,” said Booth.

MOUNT VERNON (48): Gabe Randall 7-11 3-3 23, Blake Booth 6-15 1-4 14, Matt Martin 2-5 0-0 5, Cam Butterbaugh 1-5 0-0 3, Jay Arnold 1-1 0-2 2, Noah Guillaume 0-0 1-1 1, Jayden Rasmussen 0-1 0-0 0