Costa Mesa, Calif. — Using a 24-1 run to close out the first half, Vanguard went on to beat The Master’s College 82-57 Saturday evening on the South Coast.
The Mustangs suffered their 10th loss in a row and fell to 4-13 overall and 1-8 in the GSAC.
Up until the seven-minute mark of the opening stanza, the Mustangs had stood toe-to-toe with the Lions, rallying from an eight-point deficit to even take a brief lead.
It was quite an accomplishment after the Lions scored the game’s first seven points and led 10-2 with 16:16 left in the half. Over the next three-plus minutes the Mustangs started to chip away at the deficit. They drew within 10-7 on a J.P. Webster (Vallejo, CA) three-point play at the 15:45 mark and when Delewis Johnson (Rancho Cucamonga, CA) converted a free throw with 12:37 remaining, the Mustangs had closed within 13-12.
The Lions answered with five straight points to reclaim a six-point advantage only to watch the Mustangs vault in front 23-20 on the strength of an 11-2 burst in less than four minutes. Reid Shackelford (Murrieta, CA) sparked the skein with a trio of free throws and his three-pointer tied the game at 18-all.
Kaleb Anderson (Clovis, CA) added a layup during the run, and Evan Jenkins’ (Los Angeles, CA) jumper with 8:53 remaining put the Mustangs in front for the first time, 22-20. Phil Webb’s charity toss at the 7:59 mark gave the club a three-point advantage.
However, just as quickly as the Mustangs stormed in front, the Lions reversed the momentum with their game-changing run to end the half. During that seven-minute stretch, the Mustangs missed all seven of their shots from the field and committed six turnovers while enduring a five-minute scoreless span.
Mustang head coach Ken Sugarman admitted that hurt the Mustangs, saying, “It cost us tonight. We are learning how to play with passion and poise. We had passion and were playing well with the pace in our favor, but we lost our poise and had multiple turnovers which turned into three consecutive trifectas. It was a rough way to end the half.”
The Mustangs trailed 44-24 at the break after shooting 35% (8-23) from the field.
Refusing to give up, the Mustangs scored the first four points of the second half on a couple of Shackelford buckets and got as close as 53-38 when Webster hit a jumper with 14:37 remaining.
That seemed to get the attention of the Lions who ripped off nine straight points and the Mustangs never got closer than 16 points (64-48 on two Shackelford free throws) the rest of the evening.
The Mustangs connected on 31% (8-26) of their shots in the second half and finished at 33% for the game.
Shackelford paced the Mustangs with 21 points, highlighted by a 10-10 performance from the line. It was the seventh time the junior guard has led the Mustangs in scoring this season.
Johnson was the only other Mustang in double figures, scoring 10 points and yanking down a team-high seven rebounds.
Now, the Mustangs will have to wait three more days to get a chance at snapping the losing streak. They’ll host No. 15 Westmont Tuesday evening on Bross Court. The ball goes up at 7:30pm.
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