Mustangs on the rise: Mathews completes season sweep of Bristol with 61-54 come-from-behind win
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VIENNA -- The affectionately named "Shoebox" at Mathews High School was much more akin to a tin of sardines on Tuesday as no one wanted to miss the rivalry contest between the Mustangs and Bristol.
Mathews was a little late to the moment as they played – as senior Dominic Greenwood put it – "The worst half of basketball we ever could have played."
Despite trailing the Panthers 30-18 at halftime, the Mustangs weren't just going to lie down. Things completely switched in the second half as Mathews responded and pushed back to win 61-54.
The win puts the Mustangs at 17-1 on the season and their 12-0 Northeastern Athletic Conference record has them in prime position to take the league crown from the 10-time defending champion Panthers.
"Bristol has won 10 league titles in a row, they're the gold standard," Mathews coach Mike Weymer said. "This group of seniors, they've been chasing (Bristol). They've been trying to close the gap on them since they got here as freshmen. Tonight, they refused to lose."
The Panthers had complete control over the first half, with the duo of Bristol underclassmen forwards, Mikey Burbach and Trevor Mendenhall, combining for 18 points. Early on, Mathews didn't have an answer for their size.
Burbach finished the game with 18 to lead the team. Nick Church scored 15 and Mendenhall added 10. Panthers coach Craig Giesy described the team's first half as "being in the moment."
"I thought we came out and played really well in the first half," Giesy said. "We played hard, we played composed, we were in the moment. We made some mistakes in the first half. We felt like we could extend the lead a couple times and we just made some silly, silly plays trying to do things that we never do."
Something happened in the second half where they were no longer "in the moment" and the Mustangs knew to strike.
"In the third quarter we struggled," Giesy said. "We got out of ourselves. We weren't in the moment and then they made a big enough run that even when we finally got our bearings back a little bit, we weren't able to get over the hump.
"I'm not going to go into a bunch of excuses of why. I will say this. Mathews is a heck of a team. They have their senior leadership. They play hard, they played very well. I thought adversity hit them, and they responded very well."
Having only lost one game this year, facing adversity could be something you worry about as a coach. With the senior leadership Mathews has, it was much easier for them to stabilize themselves and get back to doing what they do.
"We haven't faced a lot of deficits this year," Weymer said. "When we're behind, I think the gut instinct is to panic. We looked up at the scoreboard and our leading scorer has one point, we're down 12 and we couldn't have possibly played any worse. We had to make some X's and O's adjustments, which I thought we did pretty well, but it was really more about defense intensity, matching their intensity and just going out and getting it done."
That intensity was matched and it led to the Mustang offense picking things up. Senior Vinny Sharp, who was the aforementioned leading scorer, had one point in the first half, but found his shot after the break and finished with 17. Greenwood led the team with 20.
"We just needed to play some defense honestly," Greenwood said. "We knew that if we played defense, everything would just come to us after. Then, we started scoring the ball."
Entering this season, neither Weymer, nor the Mustangs senior class had ever beaten Bristol. This year has changed things however as Mathews has gotten the better of their rivals in each meeting.
"It's amazing," Greenwood said. "It just shows that we can do it. It proves that we have the heart and energy for us to go out there and beat them twice."
The Mustangs close the year out with four league games. Windham, Chalker, Pymatuning Valley and finally Badger. To cap off the season with a perfect league record, Mathews wants to continue doing what has worked so far.
"We know what has gotten us to this point, it's been hard work, trusting each other, coming to the gym every day with the right attitude, finding even just the littlest things that we can do better and we're not going take anything for granted," Weymer said. "For the senior class, it's personal. They want to make sure that they beat everybody on the way out and send the message.
"It's not over, we have four games to play. Our kids will be ready to see their friends at Windham and their friends at PV and play them one last time."
Bristol (12-5, 10-2 NAC) looks to recover on the road against Chalker.