Mustangs Win First State Basketball Championship

Mustangs win TAPPS 5A State Championship in double overtime.

The+boys+state+championship+banner+and+the+team.+

Photo by: courtesy photo

The boys state championship banner and the team.

Zeke Long, writer

On March 4, the Mustangs played against Dallas Christian Chargers in the final four game. The Mustangs had already played against Chargers twice and split the series. The Mustangs got off to a hot start and never looked back. The Mustangs defeated the Chargers 60-49, and advanced to the state championship. They would play against T.M.I ( Texas Military Institute) the following day.

Saturday afternoon, the Mustangs would have a tough battle going against T.M.I, with a four star player, junior, Kendrick De Luna. The game would go back and forth, ending regulation 43-43 with Luna fouling out going into overtime. With a continued battle in overtime the Mustangs were down 47-48 but senior Jaylen Johnson hit a clutch free throw to tie the game to go into double overtime.  The Mustangs battled back and forth with senior Zeke Long scoring the first basket then senior Josh Thrower finished a tough circus layup with junior Bobby McWard grabbing the rebound to score off of a fast break layup. Then the Mustangs got a huge stop with them fouling Thrower putting him on the free throw line to clinch the game 56-51.  The leading scorers for the Mustangs were McWard with 19 points and Thrower with 17 points. When asked about the game, McWard said, ” We finally did it, it feels great to get this win for the school. We got more work to do next year in order to repeat this championship again.” This would be the Mustangs first state championship in boys basketball history.

Junior Bobby Mcward pulls up and swishes a three pointer. (photo by Laura Smith)
Senior Jaylen Johnson finishes a layup through contact. (photo by Laura Smith)
Senior Zeke Long finishes a layup. (photo by Laura Smith)
Senior Jalen Wheeler finishes a left handed layup. (photo by Laura Smith)
Senior Josh Thrower finishes the and 1 floater.(photo by Laura Smith)