The McCracken County Mustangs began their week with a fifth straight notch in the win column on Tuesday night, holding off the Carlisle County Comets and pulling away late to a 74-60 victory.
“We just found a way to win…Our guys have got a knack for finding a way, but that could catch up to us if we don’t make some improvements, and shore things up defensively,” McCracken County head coach Dustin Roberts said, following the win. “Hats off to Carlisle, they played a great game, [Brian] O’Neill does a great job with them. They’re a very good basketball team, we just had to be better on the defensive side of the ball.”
On the night, the Mustangs would be led by senior guard Miles Woodfork, who topped all scorers with 32 points. Shooting 10-of-14 from the field, the performance would be his second straight 30+ point effort, and fourth consecutive 20+ point night. Elsewhere for the Mustangs, Aaron Adams and Jackson Klope each broke double figures as well with 11 and 10, respectively, while Garrett Miller had seven in his return to action after missing the Mustangs’ last five games.
Across the floor, Wyatt Rickard led the way for the Comets with 21 points, while Heath McBride wasn’t too far behind with 19. The two big forwards provided offense from every inch of the floor, combining for 21 points from three-point territory.
“They played a great game. They shot the ball extremely well all night, and we expected them to,” Roberts said, on Rickard and McBride. “They’re great players, and they’re tough to deal with. We weren’t always closing down on them quick enough, and that’s something we need to do a better job of if we want to keep on winning basketball games.”
Following a closely fought first quarter, which saw the Comets and Mustangs trade baskets on their way to a 17-15 McCracken lead through one, the first major swing of the night went the way of the hosts in the second.
While Carlisle would start the second frame on the front foot, with a pair of quickfire threes for McBride briefly giving them a lead, a big run through the middle of the quarter provided the Mustangs a chance to re-gain the edge. With strong transition offense and consistency from the foul line, a 12-0 stretch would help the hosts along to a multi-possession lead at halftime, taking a 32-25 advantage into the break.
While an early six-point swing for the Mustangs made it seem as if they were set to pull away, resilient offense from the Comets would reel the score back in, keeping things close through the quarter. Able to pick some holes in the Mustangs defense, Carlisle would find an answer to each McCracken basket through the rest of the third, with seven of Kasyn Perez’s 11 points keeping the deficit at seven points heading to the fourth, 55-48.
“We have to find a way to be better defensively. This isn’t just a one game thing, it’s been the last few games, and until we can really hang our hat on our defense, we’ll keep allowing 60+ points, and that could cost us.” said Roberts, on the Mustang defense. “We just have to have a complete buy-in, and take pride in our defense. We work on it non-stop, it just hasn’t clicked all the way. Our pressure is good, and that gives us some separation, but we need to be able to sit down in the half and just guard man-to-man better than we have.”
However, while the Comets hung tight through the third, they were unable to put together a rally across the fourth. An 8-2 run for McCracken early in the quarter would all but spell the end for Carlisle, as the deficit grew back into double digits. Down the stretch, 14 points between Woodfork and Jay Martin would keep the lead in tact, as the Mustangs collected the 74-60 victory.
Next up on the schedule for the Mustangs, they’ll look to make it six straight in a tough matchup on Thursday night, hosting the back half of a doubleheader with the Marshall County Marshals. For Carlisle, they’ll hope to bounce back in a key district rivalry game on Friday, returning home to face off against Hickman County.