The Mustangs shaved away at a 15-point Colorado Christian lead midway through the second half to force overtime Saturday night. WNMU's solid defense limited the Cougars to just two points in the extra time to run away with an exciting 92-84 win. This is was the first time head coach Mark Coleman has defeated Colorado Christian.
The Mustangs improve to 3-5 overall and 2-1 in conference play. Colorado Christian drops to 1-6 on the season and 1-2 in the RMAC.
WNMU rarely had the lead during regulation time. Near the end of the first half, the Cougars jumped up by seven with back-to-back threes by Rye Olson. WNMU's Justin Williams (Phoenix, AZ, Paradise Valley High School, Phoenix College) then hit his first of two free throws with three seconds left to cut the lead to six. Christian was ahead, 40-34, going into the locker room.
The Mustangs were the first to score in the second half, but the Cougars rattled off nine straight points to jump ahead by 13, which ended at the 16:49 mark of the second half. The double digit Cougar lead held for the next 12 minutes and went up to 15. Things then started to swing WNMU's way. With 3:48 left on the clock, Christian faced major foul trouble. They saw four out of their five starters leave the game in less than a minute.
The foul trouble, coupled with Mustang intensity, led to home team taking the 79-78 after a TJ Riley (Tyler, TX, Chapel Hill High School, Lamar University) dunk with 2:43 left to play. The Cougars were able to hit two free throws to take the lead back after Riley's fifth foul of the game, but WNMU's Stefan Mirabal (Albuquerque, NM, Sandia High School) quickly answered with a running jumper in the paint.
Another Cougar foul put WNMU's Jeron McIntosh (Albuquerque, NM, La Cueva High School) on the line with 1:40 left. He hit the first but was short on the second. The Mustangs were now up by two. A Christian jumper tied the game at 82 with 28 seconds left to play. A final attempt by Williams for the win was unsuccessful.
Mirabal started the scoring in overtime when he hit a three from Williams. The Mustangs then hit two of their next five shots while limiting the Cougars to 1 of 8 on the floor. Christian also missed two free throws in the overtime.
Williams led all scorers with 26 points. Ten of his points came at the free throw line. He also led both teams in the assists category. He handed out five.
Mirabal finished the night with 21 points followed by Riley who had 20.
For Christian, Justin Neuhaus recorded a double-double with 25 points and 12 rebounds. Jobi Wall, Joel Morris, and Olson finished with at least 12 points.
The Mustangs finished the night shooting 38.8 percent from the floor, nearly 10 percent lower than their opponents (48.3). The Mustangs had the slight advantage over Christian in the free throw category (68.2 to 64.3 percent).
WNMU forced 28 Christian turnovers while limiting themselves to just 11.
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