Thursday, March 21, 2013

Maranatha Christian Mustangs 61 Mountain Lake Wolverines 44

Maranatha Christian pulled away from a 38-34 lead half way through the 2nd half to defeat Mountain Lake 61-44. Sophomore super-sub Grantham Gillard scored 13 quick points on 3s, in transition and on baseline drives and suddenly it was 51-38 at about 6:30.

Maranatha had taken early leads over Mountain Lake of 11-4 and 19-11, as the Mustangs' Garrison Gillard riddled the Wolves' man-to-man defense for 8 quick points, mostly by putting the ball on the floor and getting to the rim from the right wing. He also picked up a couple of assists off of his penetration. Carter Kirk was doing most of the damage inside for Mountain Lake, scoring 10 of the Wolves' 1st 17 points.

But the Mustangs let the exhausted Wolverines get up off the deck, missing their last 6 shots of the 1st half. Mountain Lake scored the last 4 points of the half to get within 28-24.

Kirk and Josiah Stoesz opened the 2nd half with 2 buckets each, while Garrison Gillard and Jeremiah Hanson did the same for Maranatha, keeping it a 4-point game. Maranatha started milking the clock, which seemed to be giving a tired Mountain Lake team a much-needed breather. But it worked as the Wolves came out of their zone and the Mustangs quickly pulled away.

Maranatha riddled both the zone and the man defenses for a 53 percent shooting percentage, and out-scored Mountain Lake 13-0 on fast break points. The Wolves' big weapon was the offensive glass where they grabbed 20 boards to 7 for Maranatha, but outscored the Mustangs just 11-6 on 2nd chance points.

Kirk and Stoesz were pretty much the whole show for Mountain Lake wit 34 points and 27 boards between them. Grantham Gillard led 5 Mustangs in double figures with 15 points. Jeremiah Hanson scored 13, Garrison Gillard 12, Isaiah Hanson 11 and Josh goldschmidt 10. Garrison Gillard added 8 boards, he and Jeremiah Hanson had 4 assists and Isaiah had 4 steals.

Player of the Game: Garrison Gillard 12 points 8 boards 4 assists.


Maranatha took early leads over Mountain Lake of 11-4 and 19-11, but let the exhausted Wolverines get up off the deck, missing their last 6 shots of the 1st half. Mountain Lake scored the last 4 points of the half to get within 28-24.

The Mustangs' Garrison Gillard riddled the Wolves' man-to-man defense for 8 quick points, mostly by putting the ball on the floor and getting to the rim from the right wing. He also picked up a couple of assists off of his penetration. Meanwhile Carter Kirk was doing most of the damage inside for Mountain Lake, scoring 10 of the Wolves' 1st 17 points.

But Kirk was exhausted at that point, and didn't touch the ball on 5 straight offensive possessions. Wolves' coach Shawn Naas ordered a 2-3 matchup zone defense to get Kirk a little breather on offense, and also to cut down on the penetration, and it worked. Kirk didn't score again, but neither did Maranatha after the 4 minute mark. Josiah Stoesz took over the scoring for Mountain Lake, scoring twice inside of 2 minutes to get the Wolverines back in the ballgame.

Maranatha wants to pick up the pace in the 2nd half to exploit its superior quickness and depth. Mountain Lake needs to continue pounding the offensive boards where they have a 9-2 advantage and a 9-0 edge in 2nd chance points.

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