Ella Mahan
Staff Writer
Mira Costa Boys Basketball played Sea Hawks for the second time in Bay League on Thursday, Feb. 6th, at Manhattan Beach Middle School.
Going into the game, the Mustangs had a strong record of 9-0 in bay league. After beating the Seahawks the first time, the Mustangs gained a lot of confidence and have been working hard to secure the title of Bay League Champions, according to sophomore Jesse Waller.
“Our goal was to be undefeated in Bay League and beat Redondo for the second time,” senior Teagan Disharoon said. “But we fought hard and still played well.”
The game started off with a very close score. Both teams were able to hold each other off well throughout the first quarter. However, the Mustangs held a lead throughout the first quarter, with many break aways and steals from Redondo. Senior Max McCalla tore down the court in the first quarter with Redondo close on his heels, but he managed to increase the Mustangs score to finish the quarter on top, with a final score of 22-20.
“In the first quarter we came out quick and took a lead, while we were pushing them hard,” sophomore Jesse Waller said. “Their team tends to crash the glass hard so we had to rebound well.”
Throughout the second quarter, the Mustangs and Seahawks played fairly even quarters, but towards the end, the Seahawks began to climb to the top. Their defense kept Mira Costa from scoring a lot, and they continued making a lot of baskets throughout the whole quarter. Although, the Mustangs kept up for the most part, the final score of the quarter was about 38-34 Seahawks.
“In the second quarter they started to kill us on the offensive glass and they got a lead and although we stuck with them they had a lead at halftime,” Waller said.
The Mustangs fought hard during the third quarter to take back their lead, with freshman Will Houselholter plowing through the Seahawks defense to score a layup with 6 minutes left. Mira Costa’s shooting was off the whole game, according to Waller. However, their defense made up for it, as they stayed close to the Seahawks. Many fouls were made during the third quarter especially, because of the intense small gap between the Seahawks and Mustang’s scores. Senior Tyler Antrobius began the third quarter making both of his free throws, and continued to increase the score to about 35-37 with 5 minutes left.
“We really wanted the win,” Waller said. “We were playing really good defense, but our shooting wasn’t great.”
The fourth quarter was close, and there was a lot of fouls on both sides due to the intensity between the rivals. Mira Costa had 9 team fouls in the end. In the last 12 minutes, the score was tied at 41-41. The Seahawks then began to form a lead over the Mustangs, scoring 12 points in the last 4 minutes, finishing the game, 43-54 Redondo.
“Our shooting was off the whole game, but especially in the second half,” Waller said. However, we stuck with them by fighting hard and playing good defense.”
Mira Costa finished Bay League with a final record of 9-1. They have qualified for CIF, and will play next on Feb. 12th, at 7 pm at Manhattan Beach Middle School.
“We are planning on taking it one game at a time in order to win CIF and hold our title,” senior Max McCalla said.
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