The Mustangs welcomed the San Pasqual Eagles to their court for their final home game of the season on Feb. 12. The Mustangs had previously played the Eagles earlier this season taking home a win, with a final score of 67-40.

The game kicked off with junior Jessica Morilak singing the National Anthem for her third time this week still hitting the “free” note regardless of it being the hardest note for her to hit. Morilak pumped up the crowd and the players for the last Varsity Boys’ basketball game of the season. Michael Weingarten, a girls varsity basketball parent, then introduced the starting lineup for both teams naming off all five of the seniors to play in their final league home game.

The first quarter began with the jump ball being won by the Mustangs and an immediate three pointer being sunk by senior Tyler Hagen. Senior Mustang point guard, Bo Templin, made great passes setting up his fellow seniors to make shots; however, the Eagles  caught on and fouled the Mustangs each time.

A total of five fouls were made by the Eagles within the first quarter but fortunately for the Mustangs, they were able to make eight of the 10 possible free throws. The Mustangs fought hard throughout the first quarter and were able to steal the ball three times, two of which were done by senior Philip Paris resulting in lay-ups for the Mustangs. The boys also owned the offensive and defensive rebounds by boxing out the Eagles each time and holding onto the ball, which helped them end the quarter with a score of 21-7.

The second quarter began with the Eagles throwing in the ball and getting a shot off within the first 20 seconds. To match up with that basket, senior Austin Keillor got passed the ball and took a shot at the right elbow making it in and getting fouled at the same time, giving him a free throw which he also made.

An eager Eagle dribbling too quickly and running too fast for his hands to keep up lost the ball to sophomore Andrew Naimark who made a quick and easy lay-up. After continuous yelling from the side lines by the Eagles coach to foul the Mustangs, the San Pasqual players  finally decided to listen to their coach and fouled the Mustangs another five times giving the Mustangs seven additional points.

By this point the crowd was going wild. Keillor added to the uproar after throwing the ball off of an Eagle as he was being pushed out of the court to ensure Mustang possession. Second quarter was the quarter for three-pointers for the Mustangs as they were able to get four three-pointers, two of which were shot by Hagen another from Paris and the third by junior Jake Roberts. The second quarter ended with Mustangs up by 23.

Half-time brought forth another competition but instead of it being Mustangs vs. Eagles, it was a pair of senior basketball dads against another pair of senior basketball dads. ASB teacher, Rod Keillor, introduced the objective of the game which was to score as many three pointers as the pair possibly could within a one minute time period. Keillor (Austin’s dad) paired up with Jay Paris (Philip’s dad) against Todd Sleet (Dustin’s dad) and Rob Templin (Bo’s dad) and the game began. The dads seemed to be having trouble making three’s especially on the Templin and Sleet side but eventually  Paris was able to make one in motivating  Keillor to also make one in and as the last three seconds quickly ticked by, Paris made a final three to ensure a win for his team.

A second half time game was played which involved anyone in the crowd who wanted to participate. The objective was to be the first to make a half-court shot. A good majority of the crowd ran to try and make the first half-court shot although many merely threw air balls. It seemed like no one was going to be the winner until a player from the freshman boys basketball team finally made it in. The winner received a free pizza from Blaze Pizza. With a minute left until third quarter, the Mustangs came out and the crowd was on their feet cheering them on as they got ready to begin the second half of the game.

Third quarter began with Mustangs possession, which did not last very long after the Mustangs missed a shot and the Eagles were able to rebound and go to take a shot at their basket. However, rather than being discouraged by this, the Mustangs fought hard and Hagen was able to steal the ball back and quickly passed it to junior Garrett Stone for an easy lay-up. This encouraged another steal for the Mustangs by Templin who quickly made a backhanded lay-up bringing the crowd to their feet. Other crowd pleasers included Paris making two shots in a row and Stone making a lay-up in spite of being fouled. Led by student Caryl Berlin, the crowd began to shout, “Must what…MUSTANG! Must what…MUSTANG!” This helped the boys in their final seconds of third quarter. Third quarter ended with Keillor going up to make a shot but being fouled. Keillor was successful in making both of his free throws bringing the score to 67-40.

Fourth quarter began with Keillor stealing the ball from the Eagles just as they were passing the ball in. He made a great decision and attempted to shoot but was once again fouled by the Eagles. He was able to make both his free throws. Senior Dustin Sleet attempted to make another basket for the Mustangs, however also got fouled. Sleet was able to make both his free throws which brought joy to the crowd since it was Sleet’s first game since he had gotten a concussion. A charge taken by Stone caused the crowd to go wild as they began to chant their own version of the high school musical cheer “what team?” Stone stole the ball then made a quick layup followed by a layup from junior Grant Sippel. With thirty seconds left on the clock, junior Cameron Sippel made a three. As the game was close to ending the fans counted down the clock 7-6-5-4-3-2-1 when junior Sean Patrick was pushed to the ground and fouled by a San Pasqual player. This angered the crowd but they were glad that Patrick was okay. The game ended with a final score of 83-52. The crowd congratulated the boys as they ran through a human tunnel.

The crowd consisted of parents, the girls and boys soccer teams, the baseball team, the girls basketball team, the stang gang, and even graduate Ty Gibson who played a huge role in last year’s Boys Varsity Basketball team. “The guys played awesome tonight!” Gibson said. “They played with energy and shot the ball really well! They fed off the home crowd and gave everyone a show to remember.

”Looking at this team compared to last years, I see two major improvements,” Gibson said. “The first is that this team shoots the ball much better. The second (and I would argue more important) would be that this team was closer than we were last year. When you watch these guys play, they have a genuine love for one another which comes from being friends for so long.While this was the Mustangs last home game of the season, they still have two games left. They will be playing against San Marcos at San Marcos High School on Wednesday, Feb. 18.