Rival games bring the best out of a team's star players-- and big-time players step up in big time games. At CM tonight, the "go to" guys or "big time" players for the Mustangs stepped up. Wyatt Hathaway hit for 33 points, added 3 rebounds, and had two assists to lead the Mustangs to a 90-85 win over NHTI in cozy Kirk Hall tonight.
The Mustangs out rebounded the Lynx 54-32 with Michael Connolly leading the Mustang way with 18 rebounds to go along with his 14 points.
As the teams raced up and down the court, neither team could build a solid lead and hang onto it. CM led from the tipoff and controlled pace most of the first half taking a two-point lead into the locker room at halftime 38-36. Foul trouble plagued the home team as DeMarco McKissic and Michael Connolly both collected three fouls in the first half. To the bench the Mustangs went searching for size and rebounding strength. Up stepped Jeremiah Simeon. Simeon played his best game in a Mustangs uniform tearing down 10 rebound and hitting for 11points and added 3 assists. However, his major contribution was his defensive prowess harassing Lynx guards all game long.
As the second half began, CM understood how important the first five minutes would dictate how the game flowed. Behind Hathaway's hot shooting and the floor leadership from Jaeden Henderson, the Mustangs maintained a 4-6-point lead most of the second half. As the game entered the final five minutes, big Michael Connolly, who had already logged 22 minutes dominated the boards, and controlled inside play, followed up a Simeon miss with a monster dunk to bring the capacity crowd to its feet giving CM an 85-81 lead with 45 ticks on the clock. CM controlled the last few seconds of the game and came away with an impressive victory.
After the game, Coach Gonyea reflected, "I am so proud of how our guys stepped up tonight; played hard, played smart, and never lost their composure. We maintained a small lead and simply held on. We received great efforts from Michael, Jeremiah, and Wyatt. That is expected every game. I was especially pleased with the performance of some of our role players, Donavan, Kenray, and Malik. We expect Wyatt and Michael to help carry the load but we need contributions down the line up. This was a game where DeMarco got into foul trouble, Boston and Cam are both coming off an injury, so watching others step up was both refreshing and gave us a huge lift. At the end of the day, we got better tonight."
The win puts CM atop the Yankee Conference with a 3-0 record and 7-1 overall in the USCAA.
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