Mustangs Capture Third Place in Morrison Classic

After getting blown out the night before, the Mineola boy's varsity basketball team regrouped against the North Shore Vikings with a 64-45 victory, showing off their offensive abilities that were and securing third place in the Bob Morrison Classic.

The Mustangs had three players record double digits in scoring, with senior big man James Bulva leading the way with 21 points, and senior Thomas Ward and sophomore Michael Waszczuk adding 10 apiece.

Head coach Jim Hegmann praised the teams passing, saying that "we shared the basketball tonight" as opposed to the result against Great Neck North where "they were cheating themselves."

While the Mustangs were able to get a double digit victory, the first half played out very similar to the first round matchup.

North Shore opened the game on an 8 point run, with Justin Bell scoring the first five for the Vikings. Mineola responded by posting 5 points of their own, capped by a jumper from Waszczuk, but Bell converted two free throws to give North Shore a 10-5 edge.

The Mustangs were able to make a run to end the period as Ward scored on a pass from junior Matthew Moro, and then Bulva hit a three and took a steal coast to coast to tie the game at 12 to end the first.

In the second, Mineola came out and took the game over.

The Mustang's started the period with a three by Ward, and then an and-one by Ward pushed the score out to 19-12. After a put-back by Bulva and a free throw by sophomore Brian Gaffney, the Mustang's were up by 10.

Going into the half, Mineola held a 29-19 edge. Ward scored eight for Mineola in the half. "He plays intense," Hegmann said of Ward. "He'll do anything for the team."

Mineola opened the third period with two free throws from Bulva, but then Bell rattled off two quick baskets to try to spark a move for North Shore. Ward responded on the next possession and grabbed an offensive rebound off of his own missed shot, scoring on the put-back to stop the North Shore momentum.

The teams continued to exchanged baskets for the next few possessions, with Mineola unable to build on it's halftime lead. But after Bell made one of two free throws to cut the score to 36-29, coach Hegmann took a timeout to talk strategy.

Whatever he said, worked.

On the next possession, Waszczuk drilled a three and sparked an 11-2 run to end the quarter, highlighted by three baskets from Bulva. Mineola led 47-31 at the end of the third, allowing the Mustangs to cruise on to an easy victory.

The highlight of the game came with the score at 51-37 as Bulva got the ball on a fast break, and cruising towards the lane, he rose up to dunk the ball over a North Shore defender.

"They have to play hard," Hegmann said. "We need energy from the beginning."

The Mustang's have one more non-league game on Jan. 4 against Lawrence at home. Tip off is set for 6:45 p.m.