Brossart, who dropped four of their last six games prior to the 10th Region All ‘A’ Tournament, continued their struggles Thursday night. The Mustangs fell in overtime to Louisville Collegiate, 57-52, in the first round of the All ‘A’ State Tournament.
Brossart trailed by nine points with 4:50 left in regulation, but a Justin Saunders 3-pointer sparked a 12-1 run that gave the Mustangs a 49-47 lead with 2:00 to play.
Collegiate tied it at 49-49 with just over a minute to play after a Brossart turnover led to a layup for the Titans. Brossart had a chance to win the game after milking the clock down to the 19 seconds, however another turnover, this time an over and back violation, cost them their chance to win it in regulation. Collegiate’s Andrew Steggeman missed a shot with three seconds left to send the game into overtime.
“Right now we seem to invent a different way to make things interesting and in this case to lose the game,” Brossart Head Coach Mike Code said after the game.
Collegiate took the initial lead in overtime on a layup by David Keyer, but Brossart sophomore Alex Trentman answered on the ensuing possession with a three to put the Mustangs on top 52-51. A Steggeman bucket gave Collegiate the lead again, and the Titans would never look back. They added a pair of free-throws and another layup from Steggeman with 11 seconds left to seal the win. After Trentman’s three, Brossart went 0-for-5 from beyond the arc to finish off the extra period.
Steggeman led the Titans with 18 points, while Saunders led the Mustangs with 11 points. Drew Burns added 10 points off the bench for Brossart.
Despite holding a distinct size advantage inside, the Mustangs were outscored 30-20 in the paint. Collegiate played five smaller players, spaced the floor and doubled down in the post on defense.
“We wanted to get the ball inside, but they were really dropping in and sagging in and trying to do a good job of trying to recover on our shooters,” Code said. “With the guys we have shooting, if they’re going to take two to play Joe, we’ve got to be able to stand up and knock down that shot. Most of the time this year, we’ve been able to stand up and knock it down. We didn’t tonight.”
Brossart, who won the All ‘A’ State Title in 2007, has lost in the first round each of the last three years.
