Mustang Boys Tournament Title Drought was 50+ Years

When North Nodaway’s boys won the Northwest Missouri Tournament in 2015, it marked the end of a 50+ year tournament title drought for the Mustangs. They did it in the same building in which they last won a tournament. The last tournament won by a Mustang boys basketball team was on January 23rd, 1965 when the Mustangs, coached by Marvin Murphy, beat Sheridan 59-57 to take the Ravenwood Tournament.

The game featured two of the top basketball coaches in the area in Murphy and Wayne Winstead of Sheridan, who would go on to coach at Worth County and Northwest Missouri State before getting inducted into the Missouri Basketball Hall of Fame. Befitting a game of that caliber, the Bearcats and Mustangs had eight ties before North Nodaway finally got the two point win. It was free throws that put North Nodaway over the top, with the Mustangs getting 25 in the win.

The 1964-65 team was led by Floyd Beason, with 21 points that night. The Mustangs got off to a bad start, getting shredded by King City in the Worth County Tournament to start the season and falling into a hole. But they got better as the season progressed, and Ron Huff came alive with 32 points in a 70-68 win over Oregon on December 11th. The Mustangs had a near-miss in Fairfax as Huff’s 35 was not enough against Forest City and they fell 71-65 in the title game.

To start the Ravenwood Tournament, North Nodaway beat host NEN 75-68 as Dave Mooney, who was more of a scrapper than a scorer, got 25; Huff had 25 and Beason 12. The Mustangs then got past Jefferson to get into the championship game.

The Mustangs lost a pair of heartbreakers to Jefferson later in the season, with the Eagles coming back from down nine twice to beat them, the second time in the Regional Semifinals. They would recover to take third in the Regionals, which they did again in 1967.