Mustangs get a boost

Young players contribute to scoring load in win over Apex

APEX -- After its last shooting performance, Middle Creek decided some extra shooting drills were in order.

Those drills paid off in a 74-56 victory over Apex in a Tri-Eight Conference boys basketball game on Tuesday.

Never mind that seniors Garrius Adams and Tom Tankelewicz and junior Stephen McAllister all scored slightly below their average for points per game for host Middle Creek. Others stepped up.

The Mustangs (7-1, 2-0 Tri-Eight) jumped to a quick start. Middle Creek hit four 3-pointers in the opening quarter, including two from Adams, who scored 10 points in the first half.

"They had the green light," Middle Creek coach David Kushner said of Adams and Tankelewicz.

It was not the start Apex coach David Neal was looking for.

"We were down 15-4 right out of the gate," said Neal.

But the Cougars (5-4, 0-2) forced six first-quarter turnovers and junior Weston Murphy and senior Houston Hawley helped spark a 12-3 run to cut the Mustangs' lead to 20-16 by the end of the first quarter.

"That's been one of our problems," Kushner said of the turnovers. "It's because we're a young offense."

The Mustangs have four underclassmen on their varsity.

Middle Creek's ballhandling troubles continued into the second quarter, but it got its composure back and reclaimed control of the game.

After the Mustangs built a 49-27 lead in the third quarter, the Cougars made their final run of the game.

Apex sophomore Sunil Ram sandwiched Hawley's layup with a pair of 3-pointers and then Mike Fogg faked and spun in a reverse layup to cut the Mustangs' lead to 51-37.

The Mustangs clamped down after that sequence and matched the Cougars' offensive output of 15 points in the fourth quarter.

Middle Creek, after committing 13 first-half turnovers, had just five the rest of the way.

Of Apex's top five scorers, only Weston Murphy surpassed his average with 14 points. Fogg and Hawley each added eight points for the Cougars.

Adams led Middle Creek with 21 points and Tankelewicz had 17. McAllister finished with 7.

A couple of underclassmen supplemented the Mustangs offensively. Sophomore Garrett Leatham finished the night with 11 points, and freshman Jon Moore had 10 points.

"When the three of us have a below-average night and we still win by 10 points, that shows how deep we are," said Adams, who added 15 rebounds.

Adams said after Middle Creek's 67-48 win over Green Hope on Friday, several players committed extra time to shooting drills after practice. Even in victory, they weren't happy with their shooting percentages.

"We didn't want to shoot like that anymore," he said.