Mustangs Win a Thriller in OT, 70-64
Win Gives Slocum 3rd Place in Tourney
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
SLOCUM – While the Slocum Mustangs were certainly disappointed not to be in the championship game of their own Slocum High School Basketball Tournament, when they took on the Woden Eagles for third place – they certainly didn’t show it.
The Mustangs trailed after every quarter until they managed to tie things up in the final three minutes of the game. Slocum eventually took a 54-52 lead with 2:47 left to play, but the Eagles battled back to send the game into overtime.
The Mustangs took an early 61-60 in OT, before pulling away to win by a final score of 70-64.
The game didn’t start off in the most encouraging fashion for the Mustangs as the Eagles flew out to a six point lead after the first period of play. Quite frankly, Slocum looked a little flat as the game got underway.
The Mustangs seemed to shake off the malaise at the midway point of the quarter and managed to keep the game from getting out of hand. Randy Guess paced the Mustangs with five points in the first eight minutes of play while both Travis Neal and Cameron Jones dropped in four apiece.
The Eagles were led by Reid Taylor with nine and Reece King who poured in eight. Drew Shifflet added two to the Woden total as the Eagles took a 19-13 lead over the Mustangs after the first period.
As the second quarter got underway, the two teams played to a draw. Both scored 16 as the two squads battled it out. Jacob Lane broke into the scoring column for the Mustangs with seven points, while Neal had four, Dustin Fletcher along with Ben Haney had two each and Colby Thornton chipped in one.
Luke Alvis paced the Eagles in the second period as he knocked down seven points. Logan Lucas went for four, Khristian Goree hit a three and King had two to keep Woden ahead by a halftime score of 35-29.
After the break, Slocum began to cut into Woden’s lead and managed to cut it to two, 47-45, by the end of the third quarter. Lane dropped in seven, Guess had five and both Jones as well as Neal netted two.
Alvis scored five for the Eagles, King had three and both Jarrod Davis and Luis Acosta had two in the third. The Mustangs, however, had cut the lead down to a basket and only trailed 47-45 as the game entered the final period of play.
In the final eight minutes, Slocum managed to take a brief lead only to watch as the Eagles managed to tie things up by the time the horn sounded. Alvis, Acosta and King all had three points in the quarter while Lucas had two for Woden.
Thornton had four for Slocum while Lane chipped in three. Jones, Neal and Lincoln Smith all dropped in two as the game was tied at 58 at the end of regulation.
The overtime period belonged to Lane as he scored eight of the Mustang’s 12 points. Guess hit a three and Neal made one out of two from the line to close out the Mustangs’ point production and give them the 70 -64 win.
Woden got four points from Lucas in the extra period of play while Alvis made a pair of free throws to close out the Woden scoring.
For the game, Woden was led by Luke Alvis with 17 and Reece King with 16. Logan Lucas had 10, Reid Taylor went for nine, Luis Acosta had five, Khristian Goree had three and both Jarrod Davis along with Drew Shifflet scored two.
Slocum was led by Jacob Lane with 25 as well as Randy Guess and Travis Neal who had 13 apiece. Cameron Jones went for eight, Colby Thornton had five and a trio of Mustangs – Dustin Fletcher, Ben Haney and Lincoln Smith – all had two.
Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].
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