Balanced Mustang Attack More than Enough at Northwest

During the past couple of weeks which have seen a resurgent Marquette squad pull itself up by its bootstraps after a two-game-and-out debacle at Meramec’s holiday tournament, the squad has had to fight through bouts of poor shooting and turnovers. The week that was wrapped up tonight in Cedar Hill as six Mustangs scored five points or more in a 62-47 Suburban West victory over Northwest.

The first possession was telling. After an initial misfire, Marquette grabbed two offensive boards before Ky McKeon was able to lay in an easy two and put the Mustangs up by a deuce. Solid shooting was a long-lost friend welcomed home in this one. Buckets by Andy Rosburg, McKeon (again) and a driving lay-in by D’Angelo Woods sandwiched around a miss before Wood hit twice more and Haley converted before a quarter-ending flurry of a McKeon trey and Will Jones bucket off a nice feed from Chad Haley (Chad was on top of his game from the point, dishing out five assists—all of which were pin-point highlight reel passes). MHS hit on 9/12 from the field in the opening quarter and were in control at 19-6 after a quarter.

It was more of the same in the second. Adrien Grossheim nailed a 14-footer off an 11-pass possession finalized by a drive and kick from Matt Cox to Adrien. Cox hit on a 21-footer from the right wing the next trip down and was quickly followed up by yet another assist by Cox, this time to Jones (Will finished the evening with season-highs of eight points and five boards). The Mustang defense was solid the entire half. By the time Eric Phillips hit a fallaway from 16 feet on the left wing to beat the half-time buzzer, the Lions were able to muster only 14 points against the MHS blanket and trailed it 30-14.

While the shooting cooled in the third, the effort on the offensive glass by the team clad in navy more than made up for it. 6/16 from the floor was overcome by six offensive caroms in the quarter alone (four alone by Wood who played a tremendous floor game on the night in leading his team with 10 points). Phillips again played the hero to end the third, hitting moments before time expired to settle the Mustangs into a comfortable lead at 45-22.

With the game comfortably in hand, the Mustang reserves were able to step into the contest in the fourth. Highlights of the quarter for the fans in attendance included a resurgent Lion offense which hit four three-pointers, a driving reverse lay-in by Cox, a fundamentally-sound off-handed putback under pressure by junior Geoff Kroner and 9/13 Mustang free throw shooting.

With the victory, Marquette moves to 11-5 on the year. Next up is a home-game with traditional Central Missouri-power, Jefferson City. The Jaybirds will take on the Mustangs at the Marquette Athletic Complex Tuesday, January 22 for a 7:00 tip.

Leading Scorers: D’Angelo Wood-10, Andy Rosburg-9, Will Jones-8, Ky McKeon-6. Leading Rebounders: Jones-5, Rosburg-5, Wood-4. Leading Assists: Chad Haley-5, Matt Cox-2, Wood-2. HARD HAT AWARD WINNER: D’Angelo Wood.

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Posted by: marquettemustangs

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