Mullen makes it back to back MNAC Titles with victory over Mavericks
NORTH PLATTE - After picking up their first MNAC Championship in an OT thriller a season ago, the Class D2 No. 4 Mullen boys basketball team repeated as conference champs by knocking off Sandhills Valley 44-27 Jan. 30 at North Platte Community College.
“Last year we were young and I don’t think we were expected to win it,” Mullen Coach Brad Wright said. “This year being the favorites, I think our kids felt the pressure. This tournament I thought our defense was exceptional both Thursday and tonight. It means a lot to this program and these kids to win again. I’ve got two seniors now who have won back to back and I hope they enjoy it as much as I do for them.”
It was a low scoring affair out of the gate between the top two teams in the conference.
Mullen’s only points of the quarter were two layups inside by Bryce McIntosh and a single point off a free-throw by Clayton Moore. A layup by Alex Martinez for SV made it 5-5 at the end of the first.
The Broncos came out shooting the ball better in the second, as Trevor Kuncl connected on back to back three-pointers. Good transitional offense by Mullen resulted in an easy layup for McIntosh and increased the Broncos lead.
Mullen’s last points of the quarter was a basket by Jaden Emerson. At halftime, the Broncos were leading 18-11.
Similar to first, it was McIntosh scoring the first basket of the second half for Mullen. A layup by Brendon Walker had the
Broncos on the doorstep of going up by double digits at 22-13.
The Mavericks closed out the third quarter of play with a three by Ethan Nicholson, cutting their deficit down to 29-23.
Mullen was able to put out together a 7-0 run to begin the final frame with a layup by Emerson and a jump shot by Kuncl in the middle of the lane. Walker had the final basket of the game for the Broncos to cement the win.
After the game, McIntosh, who is one of two seniors on this year’s squad said it was a good feeling knowing they were conference champs again.
“It feels pretty good,” Bryce McIntosh said. “Our first goal of the year was to win the conference. It just felt good to be out on the court and playing basketball with my teammates.” Walker the other senior on this year’s team stated it’s special to know they accomplished this because it hasn’t happened that often at Mullen.
“We’ve had some pretty good teams when our brothers were playing and we were in junior high,” Walker said. “They never ended up winning the conference, and now that we’ve won it two years in a row we have some bragging rights on them.”
Leading Mullen in scoring was McIntosh with 12 points and eight rebounds and Walker with ten points, five rebounds, and four assists.
The Broncos played at D2 No. 8 Hershey on Feb. 2 and then finish the week off with home games vs Sandhills Thedford on Feb. 4 and South Loup on Feb. 5.