Smokin' hot in the desert

Editor's note: Mundelein's boys and girls basketball teams are spending this week in Arizona, taking advantage of the IHSA's relatively new rule that allows teams to travel anywhere for games. Navjot Singh from the boys team, and Sam Panitch from the girls team have been writing diary entries throughout the trip. Here are their most recent installments.

From Navjot Singh:

Hey everybody,

Friday was basically the same kind of day as Thursday.

We woke up around 9, ate breakfast and then went off to shoot-around. After an intense shoot-around we showered up and went to Shawn Harlan's house. He's an MHS alum. We were prepared a delicious meal: trail mix, some rolls, chicken caesar and fruit galore. We spent most of the time playing basketball at Mr. Harlan's basketball court in his back yard.

After coach Knar instructed us to get out of the sun we all came inside and played video games. At first little Nathan, Harlan's 6-year-old son, was taking care of business, but after Kevin Barber took hold of the remote it was game over.

Then we went over to Boulder Creek High School to watch the girls game at 5:30. It was a close game in the first half but they pulled away and won 69-52.

Then it was time for our game. We came out early and often and did work. Andy Rochon and Ben Brust came out hotter than Jessica Alba in a bathing suit and pushed us out to an early 20-10 lead at the end of the first quarter. As the game went on, fatigue set in for the Boulder Creek Jaguars. We started pushing the ball and getting layups and open shots. Our defensive pressure picked it up, too, as we started causing turnovers and getting easy buckets. At halftime our lead had grown to 20.

After a speech at halftime we continued our good play. Eric Pagsanjan came out smokin' in the second half. The most memorable moment of the game was when Aaron Metzger went up for a breakaway dunk and got stuffed by the rim. The crowd roared in laughter.

With strong play, we extended our lead to 26 at the end of third quarter.

The guard combo of Andy Rochon, Kevin Blackowicz, Ben Brust, and Eric Pagsanjan continued to play great defense and a very big lift came off the bench from Aaron Metzger, who played the best game that I have seen out of him this season.

All in all, we came to Arizona and did what we were supposed to do. We finished 2-0 and represented Mundelein and Illinois with pride.

(This entry's from Jan. 3)

Hey everbody:

We woke up this morning and got the continental breakfast again. After getting our practice gear we quickly changed and headed out for our shootaround at Desert Mountain High School.

The shoot-around went a lot better than the practices that we have had. We were more focused and intense, most likely because it was game day.

After the shoot-around we gathered up and headed back to the hotel. The "Thief," aka P.J. Bregenzer, was up to mischief again. He turned the room tempature in Kevin Blackowicz's room to 84 degrees. Kevin wasn't too happy about it, but it was funny to everyone else.

We had lunch at Chompies and it was OK. I ordered the orginal chicken sandwich and it was OK. Coach Knar emphasized "big dawg, big dawg only chicken and turkey," so I didn't have much of a choice. They served the most meat ever on their sandwiches. The sandwiches were about 4 feet high.

After our pregame meal we went back to Desert Mountain High School. We sat there and watched our girls team first. They came out pretty lethargic, but they picked it up quickly and it was a good game. They played tough down the stretch and won by 2.

As we were getting ready in the locker rooms we saw a cockroach and Eric Pagsanjan screamed like a little schoolgirl. We were ready and pumped to play our game.

And we showed it as we jumped out to an early lead. We kept on our pressure and intensity and pushed out to a 25-point lead at half, 52-27. We were hot from the field but we cooled down in the second half. But keeping the game at our pace helped us win 78-53.

The player of the game had to be Ben Brust, who poured in 25 points in the contest.

After taking care of business we went back to the hotel to relax. We were bumped and bruised but the bottom line was that we took care of business. The team moms were nice enough to go out and get us KFC. It was delicious!

Now we are tired and it is time to get some rest for our game tomorrow. A clean sweep down here would be wonderful, and I am hoping to that we can extend our winning streak to 5 games.

From Sam Panitch

Yesterday we played our first game in Arizona. Before the game we had a shoot-around at the high school we were going to be playing at, which was Desert Mountain High School. We just went over our plays and shot free throws at the shoot-around. and then headed back to our hotel for a few hours to rest up and relax before our big game.

When we arrived at the school for our 5 o'clock game most of the girls were a little nervous -- it was an excited kind of nervousness, we all just wanted to represent Lady Mustang basketball and all that it stands for.

Desert Mountain was the first team we have played all season that had fewer girls on their roster then we did. They only had eight players, but were still a very talented team. In the first half of the game we did not come out to play. We were not playing the kind of defense that had got us to where we are, and we were not moving the ball well on offense; we were playing more as individuals than as a team and because of that we were losing by 1 at half time.

But after a motivating half time talk by coach Evans, the second half was a different story. We picked up our defensive intensity and that set the tone for the rest of the game. We were now generating steals and forcing turnovers, which made scoring that much easier.

We had built up a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter, but a scrappy Desert Mountain team would not go away. They crept back into the game and our lead had slipped to 1 point with less then 20 seconds remaining. We held our composure well at the end of the game though, and although we did not shoot free throws very well we made enough to escape with a 2-point victory, 57-55. After our game we watched our boys team demolish the Desert Mountain boys team by more then 20 points and then we went out to dinner. It was very slow service and it felt like it took forever for us to get our food.

After dinner we returned back to the hotel, but it was already almost 11 o'clock so we just got settled and went to bed. (Friday) we play our second game in Arizona against Boulder Creek High School and it figures to be another good game!