The Munising Mustangs are no longer undefeated after losing a home contest to the Brimley Bays on Tuesday, Jan. 17. Four of five usual starters and six players receiving regular playing time were injured or sick for the contest.
But according to Munising Head Coach Terry Kienitz, the game was still winnable against the 8-3 Bays and takes responsibility for the loss.
“I don’t want to make excuses, so I’ll put that loss on me. There’s substitutions I could have made di rently to make it easier on (the players),” he said. “(Brimley) was running the full court press, we were running the full court press, that’s a tough task for them when some of these guys are playing 32 minutes.”
Munising was down by two at the half, thanks to a strong performance from Trevor Nolan. The Bays were just able to add a point in the third and fourth each to stretch out the 55-51 victory. Nolan led the Mustangs with 26 points while Cully Trzeciak added 13 for the home team.
Brimley’s Perry Leblanc led all scorers with 28.
Rebounding was a problem for the Mustangs with a number of taller players not playing in the contest. The Bays were able to force Munising into a negative rebounding ratio for the first time this season.
“Defensively, we didn’t rebound well. We weren’t boxing out and on the other side, they were able to get the basket easily,” Kienitz said.
The loss halts an 11-game winning streak to start the season, including a 67-46 victory at Carney-Nadeau on Monday. Unfortunately, the injury problems only got worse for the Mustangs in that contest. Munising had two players go down in that contest, relying on a career-high 30 points from Hayden Rockhill to get past the Wolves.
“One of our seniors stepped up,” Kienitz said of Rockhill’s performance. “He did well under pressure and that’s something that made a di rence.”
Munising has no interest in rushing back any player from injury. Continuing the idea that Munising has a legitimate chance to make the state finals in Division 4, Kienitz is not going to focus on the regular season, especially with two non-conference games coming up.
“Yes, it’s nice to be undefeated and yes it’s nice to be number one in the poll, but we need to be healthy. You can go 0-22 and still win the state title. Our last five or six games against North Central twice, Gladstone and Norway is going to help us get ready for Districts and that’s what we’re shooting for,” the coach said.
Munising is now 11-1 on the season. They play Engadine (0-7) on the road before facing the Newberry Indians (19) on Wednesday, Jan. 25 at home.
