Mundelein's shooting woes prove costly in loss to Zion

Hitting a cold shooting streak has become an all too common occurrence for the Mundelein Mustangs boys basketball team of late.

It hurt the Mustangs badly in a Friday night loss to Lake Forest -- and the Mustangs knew any kind of cold snap on the road at Zion on Saturday night could spell the same result.

And it did.

The Mustangs went over three minutes without a point in the third quarter and sank only 9 of 37 field-goal attempts in the second half. It added up the wrong way for Mundelein in an 81-66 loss to Zion-Benton.

Zion (10-0, 4-0) is off to its best start since the 2003-04 season when the Zee-Bees started a school-record 20-0.

Mundelein lost its second straight North Suburban Lake contest and is 6-4, 2-2.

"We had guys that were pressing -- trying to make something happen," said Mundelein coach Dick Knar. "Especially against (Zion- Benton), you go through a drought like we did and you can go from 2 down to 12 down in a hurry."

That was exactly what happened to the Mustangs in the third quarter. After Ben Brust (18 points) hit a free throw to pull the Mustangs within 40-39 with 6:36 to play in the period, Mundelein went from cold to frigid from the field.

The Mustangs made just 1 field goal over the next five minutes while, at the other end of the floor, Quintrell Love and the Zee-Bees couldn't miss.

"Our coaches stressed getting back on defense because we knew (Mundelein) would try and push the tempo," said Love who scored 13 of his season-high 21 points in the second half. "I just tried to keep moving to the basket and our guards did a great job of moving the ball inside."

Zion took the lead to 55-41 before the Mustangs finally connected on a 3-pointer by Ken Branch (14 points).

"I think all the guys started pressing and that was pretty much what happened to us (Friday) night," said Mustangs senior Navjot Singh who led all scorers with 23 points. "When we struggle like that, we just have to settle back into our offense and things will work out."

The Mustangs were able to get the lead under double digits in the final quarter, but they never got closer than 8 points the rest of the way.

Lenzelle Smith contributed 15 of his team-best 22 points in the first half, helping the Zee-Bees cruise to a 38-36 halftime advantage.