Montini tails off in the end
Montini claimed a dreaded moral victory on Friday.
After leading for nearly a 26-minute stretch against powerhouse St. Rita, the Broncos struggled making shots, missed critical free throws and committed costly turnovers.
The Mustangs outscored Broncos 25-7 in the fourth quarter to pull out a 69-63 win in Chicago Catholic League Blue action.
The Broncos (7-13, 1-7) scored just 14 points in the final two quarters after seizing a 49-32 lead at halftime. Julian Gatewood and Kai Matthew Evans both scored 19 points, while Jermari Harris tallied 16 points.
"It was the best energy that we had all season the way we came out," Gatewood said. "Lately, I've been off my game, but I took some time off to refresh my mind and recover. I wish we could've kept it going in the second half."
Gatewood, a junior guard, did not score in the second half after setting the tone by scoring Montini's first 8 points and 11 of its first 13.
"We had a really good start but fluttered at the end," Montini coach Bob Lozano said. "We got away from Julian in the second half. That was my fault, and I take responsibility for that because he was so hot in the first half. We hanged with them. We did some good things, but we are young and we just have to learn how to win."
The Mustangs (15-6, 8-1) showed why they are sitting in first place in the Blue during the opening three minutes - and the final three minutes. In between the Broncos' aggressive zone defense and perimeter shooting caused fits for the tall and deep Mustangs.
St. Rita made its first five shots, but Gatewood sparked the Mustangs with two early 3s. Evans then got hot in the second quarter, scoring 9 points to give the Broncos a 42-24 lead. The Broncos made nine 3s in the first half and outscored the Mustangs 30-10 in the second quarter.
But the Broncos shot 0 for 9 on 3s in the second half and were outrebounded 32-23 for the game.
"Normally, we come out games really slow, but I was happy we came out really hard," Lozano said. "Once we get two halves together, we will be fine. We'll take what we did good today and learn from it. I loved the way we played in the first half, so I'm happy where we are going."
Still, even after only scoring 9 points in the first 11-plus minutes of the second half, the Broncos managed to lead 58-56. Harris scored on a three-point play to pad Montini's lead to 61-56 with 4:15 left, but the Broncos missed their final seven shots and made just two of their final six free throws.
St. Rita hit five of their last six shots and made five free throws in the final 25 seconds to avoid the upset. Jeremiah Oden led the Mustangs with 12 points and Alec Millender finished with 12 points and 11 assists.
Gatewood, who made five 3s and shot 7 for 16, said the entire team, including himself, gained valuable experience playing against the Mustangs.
"It showed I can compete on that level with them and if I believe in myself, I can go far," he said. "We played really well. We competed."