Mustang Boys Survive Ice Cold Stretches to Advance

North Nodaway's Mustangs survived a pair of ice-cold stretches to get past Fairfax 32-26 Monday night at the Mound City Tournament. It was a 1 versus 8 match, but the game was everything but, as North Nodaway is one of the smallest teams in the area and Fairfax has both of their main scorers back in Brody Cooper and Garrett Ball. North Nodaway had some open looks, but they were missing throughout the first quarter; their only score in the period was Ben Hart's putback with 3:14 left to break a scoreless tie.

But they finally got going in the second as they started stealing the ball on defense. Koby Reynolds had a 3-pointer and a steal and Peyton Coleman added three free throws; he was getting to the line at will all night. Consequently, the Mustangs were able to shut out Fairfax and take an 11-1 lead. Reynolds hit an NBA 3-pointer from the top of the key to make it 14-1 early in the third, and North Nodaway kept an 8 to 10 point lead despite Cooper finally heating up for the Bulldogs.

But Coleman was shaken up in a collision late in the third and had to come out; that play seemed to swing the momentum back to Fairfax. Coleman returned at the start of the fourth, but the momentum continued as Ball got loose in transition with 6:16 to cut North Nodaway's lead to 21-18. That started a stretch where both defenses took over. The score was stuck at 21-18; Fairfax had several chances to tie or come within one, but could not find the range for the next three minutes. Finally, Dakota Smyser, who had battled foul trouble in the second half, came through with a drive to make it a two possession game with 2:32 left. Ball's shot from the right side cut it to 23-20, but Ben Hart scored off a drive to make it 25-20 with 1:36 left. Cooper got loose for a 3-point play after getting a call on a charge-block situation and Payton Coleman hit one out of two from the line with 57 seconds left, giving Fairfax a chance to tie.

Cooper got loose for a good look from the top of the key, but one of North Nodaway's defenders came off and helped perfectly, and Cooper's heavily contested look missed and Payton Coleman got the defense board. Under heavy pressure from two defenders, he still got the ball to Koby Reynolds with 35 seconds left; North Nodaway went six for six from the line and Payton Coleman stripped a Bulldog player with 4.6 seconds left with North Nodaway leading 30-26 and Fairfax trying to cut it to one. Coleman's free throws finally clinched the win.