The Morrison Mustangs played the fourth game in a row that was to be decided within the final seconds of action. Unfortunately, they have been on the losing end on three of those games.
In round three of the 55th Annual Forreston, IL, Holiday tournament, Morrison took on the Wildcats of River Ridge. They immediately jumped to a 10-3 lead before closing the first quarter with a 15-10 advantage. The quarter dictated the challenge for the evening. That was to contain 6′ 2″ Senior Brenden Dauphn, as he scored six of the ten opening quarter’s points for River Ridge.
The Mustangs maintained the up and down tempo and took a halftime lead of 34-31 into the locker room. Dauphin carried the Wildcats with 14 of the team’s 31 points for the half. The Mustangs shared the scoring, as all five starters contributed. Mason Sitzmore led the team with 11 points.
The second half continued in a back-and-forth, close game with Morrison taking a one-point lead into the final stanza.
The Wildcats continued to drive the baseline around the Mustang zone and dish off to the open man. This allowed them to hold a one-point lead, as the Mustangs took a timeout with 36.1 seconds remaining. Unable to get the shot to drop out of the timeout, they were forced to foul to stop the clock. Dauphin put the final nail in the coffin, as he made two free throws with 1.4 seconds left, to seal the win and end his game high total at 28.
The Mustangs’ scoring efforts were led by Kaleb Church, with 21 points, and Sitzmore, following with 15.
Morrison 15-19-14-9 = 57
River Ridge 10-21-16-14=62
Morrison Scoring: (2-pt,3-pt,ftm/fta) Houzenga (0,0,0/0,=0); Smith (0,0,1/2=1); Sitzmore (4,1,4/6=15); Church (8,0,5/7=21); Hogue (2,0,0/0=4); Hamstra (4,0,4/4=12); VanZuiden (2,0,0/0=4.)