Mustangs hang only for a quarter against Preston – Cache Valley Daily

HYRUM – In back to back games Mountain Crest played the #1 team in 4A in Utah and Idaho but the team was only in either game for the first quarter. A 18-17 Preston first quarter lead grew to 66-27 after three and the Indians coasted to a 73-41 win as Mountain Crest searches for its second win still.

It was an unusual non-region game in the middle of the Region 11 season as the Mustangs hosted the one-loss Preston Indians. Coach Tyler Jones’ squad has won three state titles and were runners up last season and are continuing that excellence this year, now at 16-1 on the season. The Indians missed some shots in the first as Mountain Crest matched their pace with the Mustangs only down one at the end of one.

However, the Preston offense came alive in the second quarter as they went on a 21-1 run. Nick Lefevre scored the only point in the second quarter for Mountain Crest at the free throw line with 13 seconds left before half. Preston came out hot in the third to the tune of a 27-9 run to take the 66-27 lead in to the final quarter.

Center Ty Hyde had a game high 19 points, scoring 11 in the third but went out with an ankle sprain. Scott Dunn had 18 and Cole Harris was the other double digit scorer with 10. Preston came in shooting 82% from the free throw line as a team and went 13/17 from the charity stripe on the night in another characteristic night for the Indians. Their average margin of victory was 23.7 points coming to Hyrum.

Mountain Crest didn’t have a double digit scorer for a second game in a row. Marshall Nethercott led the team with 9 points but sat a lot of the first three quarters after finding himself in foul trouble yet again. The Mustangs couldn’t match Preston’s pace in the second and third quarter and got frantic with 7 of their 10 turnovers in those two periods. Caleb Archibald had 7, Connor Willie had 6 and Nate Udy had 5.

Mountain Crest is 0-5 in region, last in the RPI rankings, as the Mustangs get ready for the second half of Region 11 play. Coach Kevin Anderson’s squad was the only Region 11 team playing Wednesday night and will start the second half of region when they host Logan on Friday night.