Middies

A pair of free throws and an and-one under the hoop from Isiah Johnson trimmed the lead to 48-47. With just 35 seconds left, Midview again flustered the Rangers (0-2, 0-1 SWC) into another turnover, and a costly one at that.

Midview sophomore Nyco Vidal quickly capitalized, instantly finding Manning open under the basket to give Midview its first lead since 4-0 in the first quarter.

Vidal talked about the game-changing play.

“Oh man, the crowd was going crazy, and I was just in the right place at the right time,” Vidal said.

He finished with seven points and two assists.

Manning was thrilled Vidal had a keen eye to his surroundings.

“I was going for it at first, but once I saw him pick it up I was just thinking, ‘Oh god, I hope he sees me,’” Manning said.

Manning finished with a game-high 17 points.

As the Rangers inbounded the ball with just seconds left, the clock ticked away without a single shot and the unlikely comeback was complete.

“To be honest, I have no clue how we won that game. Zero,” Brabanec said. “We didn’t play well in the first half, and I think we had 10 points at halftime. We kind of sparked them a little bit, and picked up full court. We started getting some turnovers and then made a little run, and they answered right back and went up double digits. Luckily we had a few seconds there in that fourth quarter to come back.”

While Brabenec was scratching his head at how his team pulled off the comeback, Rangers coach Bryan Morgan was visibly frustrated after watching his team give away a game with mistakes.

“It’s unbelievable. I don’t even know what to say,” Morgan said. “We didn’t even get a shot off. We have nine seniors on this basketball team, and we don’t close a game out. Mistake after mistake after mistake.”

Midview found themselves in a 10-point hole at halftime, but it was its offensive numbers that were more shocking than anything else. The Middies scored just 10 points while going 3-of-22 from the field. They also had eight turnovers.

It was an ugly showing, but one that hadn’t buried them just yet.

The Rangers held the Middies scoreless for nine minutes in between the first and second quarter as they jumped out to a 16-4 lead.

The large lead was due in part to a strong first half from Desean Patrick. The senior lit up the Middies for a pair of 3s and finished with 14 points. Fellow senior, Cadle led the Rangers with 16.

Trailing, 18-10, at halftime, Midview came storming out with a 7-0 run to slice the lead within one. The Rangers answered right back with an 11-0 run, taking their lead back up to 31-23 midway through the third.

A few short minutes later the Middies went into the full-court press, something rather new.

“That full press is not really our motto here, not really our mantra,” Brabenec said. You know, trying to get teams to play fast, we just like to slow it down a little bit and play some real good half-court defense. But we need something to get our offense going. We thought maybe our full court would help our offense, and try and get some easy ones.”

It did just that as junior guard Marcell Young notched eight of his 14 points in the fourth quarter, helping to fuel the comeback.

Still winless on the young season, Morgan implored his team to fix their mistakes, and hopes his staff and players will find the solution.

“Unfortunately, I have seen this before. We will show it to them in film, and then we will just see the mistake again,” Morgan said. We have to do a better job of coaching, and they have to do a better job of learning.”