The PCM Boys Basketball team opened up their season last week with three games, at Knoxville, home vs. Greene County, and vs. Saydel at Wells Fargo Arena. This was a hefty week as it was also the first week of PCM Basketball not coached by Fred Lorensen, ever. With Tony Ford taking over the coaching duties for this season and hopefully many more to come. The Mustangs went 1-2 in those games, losing to two solid teams in Knoxville and Saydel. The win was Coach Ford’s first in his career in his first home game.
The Knoxville game started off hot as the Mustangs jumped out to a 5-0 lead after a layup off the tip and three in the fastbreak, both by senior Jacob Wendt. But Knoxville would regroup itself and eventually fight back to take an 11-10 lead at the end of the first quarter. The story on the night was the Panther’s ability to shoot the basketball from long range, as they went 12/27 on the night; Landon Norris led the team in threes with four, and he finished with 24 points. The first half was very close as the two teams would go to the break tied at 29. But the Mustangs ran out of juice in the second half as they were outscored 15-10 in the third and 21-17 in the fourth to eventually fall 65-56. Gavin Van Gorp and Jacob Wendt finished with 17 points to lead the Mustangs, Chase Wagaman had eight points, Devries and Jungling both had four, and Cutler Vandelune hit a three-pointer in his only shot.
The second game of the week for the Mustangs against Greene County would be the home opener for the season. The Mustangs looked sharper in this one as although it was 11-11 after one quarter, they would jump out to a 31-20 lead at halftime. Van Gorp would finish with 20 points and 4/8 from behind the arc, he led the Mustangs to an eventual 65-41 route of the Greene County Rams. Wendt had 14 points and five rebounds, Wagaman had seven points and six boards, and Jack Jungling led the team with nine rebounds. In Vandelune’s first start, he had three points and snagged one rebound. Kaleb Devries had five, Alex Wendt recorded three, and Gavin Steenhoek and Gavin Deraad both had two points.
The Mustangs would have to wake up the next day to drive to Wells Fargo Arena for their third game of the week against the Saydel Eagles. This was a rough game for the Mustangs as they got down early and couldn’t muster up a large enough comeback. At halftime Saydel led 40-21, PCM showed signs of life in the third cutting the lead to 13, but never really gave the Eagles a reason to be nervous, eventually falling 57-45.
It was an up-and-down week for PCM Basketball, but it’s a long season, and you can bet on seeing a much better team in February as there is right now. Ford and Co. are sure to have an answer to anything that comes their way.