By Coach Jenny Early

The 7th-grade Redway Mustangs received a great Valentine’s Day present when they defeated South Bay in overtime.

Although the Mustangs were bigger and taller in size, South Bay came out on the court for the first quarter very aggressive and showed us right off the bat that in this game, size didn’t matter.

The Mustangs started off winning the jump but the ball ended up powering out of bounds. South Bay put the pressure on with a full court press, surprising a few of our players.

Without our main point guard Ethan Bates in the game to bring the ball down and get out of a press as smoothly as he can, we had to pick another route. Justin Michael and Javier Alatorre stepped up to push the ball down the court.

Javier Alatorre and Alex Pontoni-Kaye scored 2 points, Jorge Avilez added an additional 4 points down in the post spot, and Justin Michael scored 6. At the end of the first quarter the score was Mustangs 14, South Bay 13.

South Bay continued to press, making it extremely difficult for Redway to get the ball down the court. By the end of the second quarter Preston Potter and Alex Pontoni-Kaye started helping out moving the ball down the court.

South Bay played a very aggressive and tight defense, forcing each player on our team to step up his game and contribute. In this game, the only way we were going to pull ahead was to work together as a team and fight for it. The Mustangs plowed ahead in the second half with Javier Alatorre adding 2 points, Alex Pontoni-Kaye helping us out with 8 points, and Jorge Avilez with 4. Total score at end of second quarter: Mustangs 28, South Bay 21.

In this quarter Alex really came forward and was not just a strong defender, but wasn’t shy about putting the ball up underneath the basket.

South Bay came out strong and continued to press at the beginning of the third quarter, causing multiple turnovers for us as we began to panic. A few timeouts were called to get the Mustangs to slow things down and run their offense.

South Bay started to inch up on us, outscoring us in the third by one point. At one point in the game the Mustangs gave away their lead and gave in to the pressure South Bay delivered. We knew we needed to get tougher on defense so the Mustangs started with a full court press. Score at the end of the third quarter: Mustangs 37, South Bay 31.

In the fourth quarter the pressure was on by both teams. Neither one gave up. With both teams applying a full-court press and the Mustangs going into a man-to-man defense instead of a zone, things heated up quickly. For most of the fourth quarter, each team was neck and neck.

At some points South Bay took over the lead, and then the Mustangs would take it back. The fourth quarter was intense, to say the least, and the crowd kept getting louder and louder rooting for their own team. It was an exciting seven minutes. Justin Michael had 4 points, Jorge added 5, and Alex had 4.

When the buzzer sounded at the end of the fourth, we were tied 52-52.

Each overtime period is three minutes. Both teams continued to press with the Mustangs playing man-to-man defense. The crowd was glued to the game, each side cheering for their team when there was a steal, turnover or someone playing good defense.

I haven’t heard the Redway gym be that loud in a long time. Emotions ran high from everyone in the room, as I shouted out plays and encouraged the players as best I could.

As it came down to the wire, Preston Potter was fouled on the shot and had to shoot two from the free throw line. He was 1 for 2. That one free throw put the Mustangs in the lead. The pressure was on for the last minute of the game to keep South Bay from scoring, combined with Justin Michael fouling out. Number 14 on South Bay was the real concern. He was short, fast, and an accurate shooter. Their leading scorer had made 29 points for his team so far in the game. Minutes wound down to 30 seconds, then 15 with shots put up but nothing going through the net. Then it was down to 10, eight, five seconds with the Mustangs in control of the ball as the buzzer sounded. The final score was Mustangs 53, South Bay 52.

I would like to point out that Jorge Avilez reached a game high 20 points and played a very strong post position for us.

Alex Pontoni-Kaye scored a game high of 16 points and had a heck of a game! He’s always strong on defense but his offensive game was most impressive. He was pretty unstoppable down in the post spot.

I just want to include what an amazing season it has been for this team. We won more than we lost, and took second place at the Cuddeback tournament at the beginning of the season.

More important than the win loss record was how much I saw these boys improve since day one. For me, it never has been about winning, but more what you get out of the experience that matters. This is a special group of kids and I feel truly privileged to have been their coach and form such a great bond.

There was almost never a day that went by that I did not leave that gym without a smile on my face. I have never had a team make me laugh so much and make me so incredibly sad to see the season coming to an end. Thank you boys for all the smiles you put on my face, and for one heck of a game on Valentine’s Day. You sure made my day and I am so proud of you. Good luck to you in all your future endeavors.