The Munising Mustangs girls basketball team scored a strong conference win at home against the Crystal Falls-Forest Park Trojans 47-41 on Tuesday, Feb. 7. A strong run by the Trojans slashed a 13-point lead in the early third quarter, but Munising was able to hold late to take the win.

“We don’t put people away really well when we have a chance,” Munising Head Coach Matt Mattson. “They made a run in the third and turned into a battle.”

Closing strong was crucial for the Mustangs, hitting six of seven free throw opportunities and moving the ball despite increased defensive pressure. But despite not closing out games, Munising has won the majority of their games by single digits.

“We’ve really had a ton of them this year,” Mattson said. “It’s important to get free throws and had to make a couple down the stretch and important to win when you get in these close games and being in these close games will help us down the stretch.

The win follows up a tough loss at home against the Ishpeming Hematites, losing 58-27 on Saturday. The game was handled easily by the larger team, but the competition was expected from one of the more respected Division 3 schools. Mattson said that there is a positive when facing tougher talent and then getting back into the conference schedule.

“I wanted to bump our competitiveness up, so we put Ishpeming and Gwinn on the schedule again. I wanted to play some better games,” Mattson said. “We could have played a lot better, but we competed a lot better last night. We rebounded better and gathered up more loose balls. It was nice to see that corner turned a little bit.”

The Mustangs now sit at 11-4 with a game played at North Dickinson on Thursday night. The next contest for Munising will be home against Pickford (5-10) on Monday. Mattson also confirmed that the game against Superior Central cancelled last week would not be made up as no date could be found.