Mustangs falter against Roy at home

Region woes continued for the Mountain Crest boy’s basketball team Friday in a 57-43 loss to region-leader Roy.

But despite the loss, MC head coach Graydon Buchmiller said a lot of positives came out of the game.

“We have to play with that intensity and effort every game,” Buchmiller said. “We have to go out and compete with everyone, not just the top teams in region. We just have to keep working and drive that attitude a little bit.”

Facing off against one of the state’s best scorers in Brekkott Chapman, the Mustangs kept the game close throughout the first half with a strong defensive effort. Both teams struggled to find the bottom of the net for the game’s first two minutes, but then the lid came off.

The Royals held a slim lead entering the second quarter but tenacious defense and some good fortune turned the tables. Roy ripped off a 7-0 run to start the quarter and after a Chapman dunk with 90 seconds left in the half, all the momentum rested with the Royals.

Mountain Crest managed a late bucket to shift some momentum and went into the intermission down 26-19 and made some adjustments.

“The third quarter was definitely our best,” Buchmiller said. “Credit to our kids, they took advantage of some things and we were able to ratchet our intensity a bit more which was a good sign.”

The Mustangs came out of the break and controlled the third quarter, but despite stifling the Royals’ offense were unable to cut into the deficit. Both teams turned up the intensity in the second half and Roy led 38-30 at the end of the third quarter.

But it wasn’t meant to be for the Mustangs as Roy found success in transition. Missed shots led to quick baskets for the Royals, who turned an 8-point lead into as many as 18 in the fourth quarter en route to the win.

“As a team we realized we need to push the ball to be at our best so we tried to do that,” Chapman said.

Mountain Crest suffered its fourth straight region loss, falling to 1-4 in Region 5 and 5-9 overall. Roy maintained it’s perfect region record at 5-0 and moved to 12-3 overall.

The Mustangs return to action on Wednesday, Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. when they travel to Smithfield to take on valley-rival Sky View.

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