COLORADO SPRINGS – It could have been so easy for the Mitchell boys basketball team to shut it down in the third quarter during its 56-50 loss to Vanguard over the weekend. The Coursers had just taken a double-digit lead and two starters, Kory Davis and Kaleb Baker, had been in foul trouble for much of the game.
But that’s not how this team operates. Yes, there have been struggles this season, but at no point when things have looked tough has this team quit fighting.
“We’re just a resilient group,” coach Cody Schroeder said. “These are resilient kids. We waited a little too long to want to play (against Vanguard) but that’s kind of been the story of our season.”
When the Marauders (5-12 overall) kick it into gear and put their best game on the floor, it’s a very entertaining product. Baker and Torren Stewart each knocked down a 3-pointer in the third quarter and suddenly there was a little bit of momentum.
And with that momentum came a little bit of swag. Down 39-38 in the fourth quarter, Mitchell had the ball on the sideline. Stewart, a sophomore averaging 10.4 points per game, felt locked in.
“Oh I’m going to shoot this,” he told everyone within earshot before the ball was inbounded.
He caught it, shot it and posed as the ball sank through the rim, giving the Marauders their first lead of that game.
“Once we had that momentum, we kept pushing and pushing,” Stewart said. “We want to win games so we have to keep pushing.”
They couldn’t hold on to win that game on Feb. 4, but the resiliency stayed with them. They hosted Elizabeth on Monday and came away with a 60-47 win. Stewart cashed in a season-high 26 points while Nathan Mercer scored 14 points.
Mitchell took a one-point lead into halftime but owned the third quarter, outscoring the Cardinals by 11 to give them a lot of breathing room. The tenacity that they showed late in the third and early in the fourth against Vanguard seemed to be there for the entire game.
It’s a mentality that Mercer knew the Marauders had to have all 32 minutes of regulation and the sting of the loss to Vanguard was a reminder of that.
“When we start working together, we play better,” Mercer said. “When everyone sees their shots falling, they play with more energy and we don’t get that at the beginning of the game.”
Mitchell has battled tough at times this season, most notably in a seven-point loss to Falcon. It was Hector Delgado who saw his shots fall early in that game and he just kept firing. He went 7 for 15 from the 3-point line and scored 23 points to keep the team close. They may not have gotten the win, but the effort was a reminder that this team is capable of competing against anyone it takes the floor with.
“They want to fight so bad and they want to win so bad,” Schroeder said. “It’s frustrating when we lose these (close games) but these kids have taught me so much about being resilient.”
