November 24, 2012

One night after shooting the lights out from long range, The Master’s College experienced life at the other end of the spectrum Saturday evening, falling 68-53 to Claremont at the David Wells Classic.

The loss dropped the Mustangs to 5-2.

After going 12-18 from behind the arc in Friday’s victory over Pomona-Pitzer, the Mustangs managed just four three-pointers against the Stags. Three (3-8) of those came in a very competitive first half but a 1-10 showing in the final stanza kept the Mustangs from catching Claremont.

Meanwhile, the Stags converted 10 of their 22 attempts from behind the arc with a 7-12 performance in the first half putting them ahead to stay. They grabbed a quick 3-0 lead on a Remy Pinson trifecta 40 seconds into play but the Mustangs evened things up at 8-all over four minutes later (15:08) when Devin Dyer (Temecula, CA) drilled the second of his four trifectas. Dyer was the lone Mustang to hit a three-pointer.

The clubs managed three more ties over the next five minutes before a 5-0 spurt, triggered by a Dyer three-ball, moved the Mustangs out to a 25-20 lead. They held a variety of leads for nearly five more minutes until the Stags used a trio of three-pointers to key a decisive 13-0 run that vaulted them into a lead they would never surrender.

The Mustangs went to halftime down 37-32. Dyer paced the Mustangs with 13 points while Jason Logan (Spartanburg, SC) and Austin Loeb (Cypress, CA) came off the bench to pitch in nine apiece as the club hit 60% (12-20) of their shots from the field.

But, that accuracy was missing in the second half when the Mustangs never got closer than four points while the Stags led by as many as 17 points. The Stags started the final stanza with a 7-1 burst and never looked back. The Mustangs didn’t give up, though, chiseling away at the deficit and drawing to within 46-42 on a Loeb jumper at the 14:16 mark.

However, the Stags didn’t let the Mustangs come all the way back as they held TMC to just two points over a seven-minute stretch while tearing off 12 points themselves to take a 58-44 lead with 7:06 left to play. That was enough to put away the Mustangs, who scored just 21 second-half points.

After a sparkling first half of shooting, the Mustangs managed just 35% (8-23) accuracy over the final 20 minutes. On an otherwise off-night for the Mustangs, Dyer shone, going 8-16 from the field en route to a season-high 20 points. Logan complemented him with 13 points and tore down a game-high 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the young season while Loeb tallied 11 more.

Now, the Mustangs turn their attention to a Northern California trip next weekend, hoping to come back with two wins. On Friday evening (November 30) they play Simpson, a team they handled easily 68-46 in the season-opener three weeks ago, in Redding and then turn around 24 hours later to play William Jessup in Rocklin.

Mustangs Feast On Sagehens

November 23, 2012

Leif Karlberg poured in five of his team’s dozen three-pointers in The Master’s College 77-58 beating of Pomona Pitzer Friday evening on the first day of the David Wells Classic in Claremont.

Playing their first game in a week, the Mustangs went 12-18 from behind the arc and won for the second consecutive time, improving to 5-1.

Karlberg (Anchorage, AK), who was shooting just 36% from behind the arc through the club’s first five contests, regained his form against the Sagehens, going 5-8 from long range. Three of those came in the first half when the Mustangs rallied from an eight-point deficit to lead by as many as 12 and took a lead they would never relinquish.

The first of Karlberg’s treys pulled the Mustangs to within 4-3 at the 17:48 mark of the first half but the Sagehens answered with a 7-0 run over the next three minutes to take an 11-3 advantage.

However, on an evening when the long-distance focus was on Karlberg, his teammates dialed in to help out as evidenced in a 13-2 burst that featured three-balls by Lance Reeves (Visalia, CA) and Derrick Fain (Dallas, TX), vaulting the Mustangs in front 15-13 with 10:06 remaining in the half. Junior center Austin Loeb (Cypress, CA) capped off the skein with four points.

A quick, 5-0 spurt put the Sagehens back in front but another three-ball, this one from Logan Quinn (Little Rock, AR), tied the game at 18-all and fueled a 16-3 run over a 6:27 span that put the Mustangs ahead for good. Along the way, Jason Logan (Spartanburg, SC) scored five points and Karlberg drained two more treys to finish things off for a 31-21 lead at the 2:37 mark.

The Sagehens interrupted the skein with a basket but a Logan layup and two free throws from Quinn extended the lead to a half-high 12 points (35-23) before a Moss three-pointer cut the Mustang lead to nine points at the break.

Logan and Karlberg shared first-half scoring honors with nine points as the Mustangs shot just under 48% (11-23) from the field, including a 6-9 mark from behind the arc.

The Mustangs matched that long-range marksmanship over the final 20 minutes and many of those came at the most opportune times. Four of those were sunk in a 6:08 window that extended the Mustang lead into double figures and were key elements in a 15-7 skein that finished off the Sagehens.

Fittingly, Karlberg started things off with a long-range bomb at the 16:06 mark and Reeves, who went 3-4 from behind the arc, added to the assault with a pair of treys for a 53-43 lead. Chris Patureau (Houston, TX) added another trey in between and Fain finished things off with a hoop for the hot-shooting Mustangs.

The Mustangs were far from finished, too. Not content to just cruise to a win, the club put the hammer down over the final nine minutes, extending the lead to as many as 20 points (76-56) with just under a minute to play. That margin was reached on Karlberg’s final three-pointer of the evening.

In the second stanza, the Mustangs upped their accuracy to 52% (15-29) and finished the evening by converting exactly 50% (26-52) of their shots. Karlberg led six Mustangs in double figures with 16 points while Devin Dyer (Temecula, CA) added 12 more. Logan tallied 11 points and helped the squad to a 36-30 rebound margin by taking down a team-high seven boards. Fain, Reeves, and Loeb all chipped in with 10 points.

Looking to go 2-0 at the Wells Classic, the Mustangs face host Claremont tomorrow evening at 5:00pm.