Mustangs take back-to-back games

Time to read
1 minute
Read so far

Mustangs take back-to-back games

Wed, 12/23/2020 - 19:49
Posted in:
In-page image(s)
Body

The Madisonville men’s basketball team posted back-to-back victories over the weekend with a 41-32 win in Sealy Friday and a 61-53 win over Centerville Saturday. Sophomore Casey Holiday led the Mustangs in scoring in each contest with 19 and 26 points, respectively.

“(Holiday) has been big time for us,” said head coach Brad Taylor on the sophomore. “Even with him being so young, he’s been able to be our leader, our leading scorer and an energy guy for us. He’s been a key part of everything we do.”

Two late Holiday three-pointers helped carry the Mustangs to victory in Friday’s road matchup at Sealy. The team committed a number of costly turnovers early on, but displayed a stout defensive effort throughout.

“(Sealy) came out in a half court trap and we struggled with it,” said Taylor. “We finally adjusted to what they were doing and started to take care of the ball. We kept them from scoring but, at the same time early on, we had a bunch of silly mistakes by just throwing the ball away.”

Holiday was one rebound shy of a double-double in the win while Xzavier Whaley added five points and four rebounds and Josh Griffin totaled four points and four boards.

“(Holiday) hit some big threes at the end of the game for us, it put the dagger in (Sealy),” said Taylor. “It boiled down to our defense and not allowing them to score. I was really impressed by that.”

Madisonville picked up their second straight win Saturday after a slow start against Centerville. The Mustangs trailed 21-6 after the first quarter of play and spent much of the game battling back. “We started out real

“We started out real slow and they came out hitting pretty much everything,” said Taylor. “Finally, we got ourselves back together and played our type of basketball. We slowly worked ourselves back into the game.”

The Mustangs took their first lead of the contest with five minutes remaining in the fourth. Holiday, who again led the team in scoring with 26 points, fouled out midway through the fourth.

“We had to fight through adversity and some guys really stepped up in (Holiday’s) absence,” said Taylor.

Whaley and Lorenzo Johnson, who tallied 10 and nine points, respectively, were tabbed by Taylor as players who helped secure the win down the stretch along with Rodney Brooks.

“My coaching staff and I were really impressed by how they stepped up and made plays,” said Taylor.

The wins came in response to a 49-44 loss at Crockett Dec. 8, in which the Mustangs struggled to finish the game down the stretch. Holiday led the team in scoring in the loss with 16 points and was followed by Johnson (nine) and Brooks (five). Griffin added seven rebounds to compliment nine from Holiday.

Madisonville continued their non-district slate with a home matchup against Hillsboro Tuesday and will travel to Bellville Friday and host Hearne Saturday.

“I think these two big wins will give us some momentum going forward,” said Taylor. “I think the kids are confident and are starting to understand what they need to do to be successful.”