Late comeback lifts Mascoutah past Highland in battle of MVC’s top two teams
Early foul trouble neutralized Highland junior Garrin Stone against Mascoutah on Friday night.
And in the closing moments, Mascoutah senior guard Jayden McCoo and senior forward Miles Ntekop came through with clutch baskets as the Indians held off Highland for a 51-43 win in a showdown of two of the top teams in the Mississippi Valley Conference at Mascoutah High School.
Mascoutah (12-6), which has won six of its last seven games, now sits atop the MVC race at 5-1 and is beginning to find its stride.
“Highland been playing really well and they’re super tough and deep. It was a big win,” Mascoutah coach Cole Schomaker said. “They got it done defensively, offensively was kind of a struggle for us sometimes but Miles was great, McCoo was great, and it was great team effort.”
Both teams struggled to score in the first quarter as the defenses dug in early and Mascoutah managed to hold just a 10-7 lead after the opening stanza.
A 7-0 run keyed by a Tyler Gray 3-point basket pushed the Indians to a 17-10 and then a 6-3 run capped by Greg Adams triple pushed the lead to 25-15 at the half.
Highland (10-10, 4-2) struggled with just eight points in the second quarter in large part due to Stone having to leave the game after two quick fouls in the first three minutes of play.
Stone would not return until the third quarter.
“Mascoutah’s a good defensive team but I thought a bigger part (of the offensive struggle) was we got in foul trouble early,” Highland coach Deryl Cunningham said. “Garrin had two early and when he had two that took away inside and left tbe perimeter to McCoo and (Cory) Harris and they’re good defenders and they’re gonna make it tough, so I thought the difference in the game was the foul trouble in the first half.”
An Ntekop bucket and McCoo 3-point play pushed Mascoutah’s lead to 33-20 late in the third quarter.
McCoo, who had just three points at halftime finished with a game-high 17 points while Ntekop pumped in 16 points.
“My teammates and I decided we can’t be stagnant and the offense was going to run where I go so I we all go, so Myles, Jacob (Jung), Corey (Harris), Greg (Adams), we all turned up defensively and we just go,” McCoo said.
Ntekop credited McCoo’s strong guard play with his being able to score effectively on the baseline.
“We just kind of ran it through Jayden McCoo,” Ntekop said. “He did his thing, got to the rack and we hit a few shots and were trying to board and we kept on the gas and never gave up. We made some mistakes but we kept on fighting through it.”
Highland pulled within 35-30 with 5:25 to go and the Bulldog got within 42-35 on a Jake Ottensmeier three-point play with 1:57 left.
McCoo answered with a pair of free throws and a bucket and Ntekop added an exclamation point slam in the final seconds as the Bulldogs were turned away at the end.
“i know our guys are trying real hard but sometimes when you’re trying, you end up panicking and trying to get a homerun play all at once ad the kids are trying but sometimes when you try too hard it doesn’t work out and they’re learning that.,” Cunningham said;
Stone topped Highland with 12 points and Ottensmeier added 9.
