by Dylan Sanders
Junior Jackson Thomas scored a career high 20 points as the Mustangs defeated the Roland Story Norseman 59-49 at home on Nov. 29. The Mustangs led for the entire second half of the game.
“I thought we had several players do well, but Jackson certainly stood out,” Head coach Fred Lorensen said. “He got us off to a great start by making some perimeter shots and then had that great spurt about halfway through the 4th quarter, which gave us some separation in the score. I also thought Mark Bruxvoort had a really good all-around game, and Andrew Van Ryswyk had a big night on the boards with 14 rebounds.”
Other rebounders were Bruxvoort with 10, Jackson with seven, and freshmen Derek Brown with six. Also scoring for the Mustangs were Elijah Sperfslage with 10, Van Ryswyk with six, Brown with six, and Bruxvoort with five.
“It definitely felt good to get that first win out of the way,” Bruxvoort said.
The Mustangs had several underclassmen players contribute in a big way against the Norseman
“We have a very young team this year, and the younger kids stepped up and proved that they could play with the older guys,”Bruxvoort said.
Sophomore Brayton Van Dyke contributed four points, and sophomore Reed Worth provided a key three point shot in the fourth quarter.
“We had several kids come off the bench and play well,” Lorensen said. “Reed Worth came in and gave us some really good minutes by taking care of the ball, playing really good defense and getting us into what we were trying to do offensively.”
The Mustangs finished the first quarter behind Roland Story 14-11. They caught fire in the second and took a 6 point lead into halftime. The Mustangs held on to the lead for the rest of the game with great team performances in the second and third quarter.
“I thought our kids played really hard. We made more mistakes during the game than we would have liked, but I thought we played well defensively and did a good job of hanging in there when things weren’t going well.”
The Mustangs next game is tonight, Dec. 8 against Keota at home. Tip-off is at 7:30 p.m.
