By Abby Dumler
The Mustang Men went into the conference tournament as the fourth seed. They began their week taking on the 5th-seeded Kenesaw Blue Devils in Shelton on Monday, February 3rd. Head coach Shaun Fisher stated, “I was glad we were on the side of the bracket that we were on. We lost to Kenesaw in the regular season, so the boys wanted to avenge that.” The match started immediately in the Mustang’s favor, with Silver Lake putting up 10 points to Kenesaw’s 6. The second quarter seemed to slow down offensively for both teams, with the Mustangs adding 4 more and Keneasw tacking on another 6 to go into the break 14-12. After some half-time adjustments, the Mustangs got some offense going, adding 10 more points in the third, while they held Kenesaw to just 4 more points, giving Silver Lake an 8-point lead to start the final quarter of the game. In the fourth quarter, Kenesaw found a surge offensively to almost double their score to 31; however, the Mustangs added another 13 points to take a 6-point victory and advance to the semi-final match. The team was led offensively by junior Landon Duester who had 11 points for the night along with 9 rebounds, 5 of which came on the offensive end. Senior Paxton Sorensen and junior Beau Bonifas helped out the cause with 9 and 6 points, respectively. Senior Lane Conway pulled down 8 rebounds.
After defeating Kenesaw, the Mustangs were set to face the number 1-seeded Shelton Bulldogs on their home court. The first half proved to be a dogfight. Fisher said, “I knew going into the tournament it wasn’t going to be an easy road as our conference has been nip & tuck all year.” Silver Lake led at the end of the first quarter 13-11, and they went into half-time with a narrow 1-point lead with the score sitting at 21-20. After halftime, the Mustangs managed to hold Shelton to just four points, which allowed them to obtain a 10-point lead, going into the final quarter 34-24. Although Shelton managed to add 14 more points, Silver Lake held them off, adding 11 of their own to win the game 45-38 and advance to the TVC Conference Championship game. The Mustangs spread the scoring out evenly for the game. Junior Beau Bonifas led the team with 9, all of which came from behind the arch. Following him was Duester with 10, Lane Conway with 9, senior Casey Conway with 8, and Sorensen with 7. Brothers Lane and Casey Conway manned the boards, grabbing down 6 each. Fisher commented, “I feel like they’re playing some of their best basketball right now. They’re doing an excellent job of moving the ball around and their shot selection is great. They’re gaining confidence at the right time. We could always find ways to improve but right now it’s just a matter of playing great team basketball. They’ve improved greatly on not allowing second shots for the opposing team and again, shot selection.”
That Saturday, Silver Lake was set to play Red Cloud. In the first game of the year, Silver Lake managed to grab a 2-point victory from the Warriors, so the anticipation for this game was high. Red Cloud jumped out to a 2-point lead after the first quarter. Both teams got hot from behind the three-point line, and Silver Lake was able to go into halftime with a 27-25 lead at halftime. Following halftime, the Mustangs added another 15 points to their total, while Red Cloud added 10, to leave the deficit at 7 points going into the fourth quarter. Silver Lake maintained their composure to knock down free throws in the final quarter of play, outscoring Red Cloud 20-10 to take the victory. This was the first victory since 1998 for a Silver Lake Boy’s basketball program. A huge part of Silver Lake’s success came from behind the arch. The team managed to drain 10 of 19, shooting an impressive 53% from three. Lane Conway had 4 of his own, and he racked up 21 points and 8 rebounds in the victory. Duester added 14 points of his own. Sorensen contributed 7 rebounds. The team remained disciplined throughout the match, only tallying 4 turnovers total. They also managed to knock down 16 of 21 free throws, shooting 76% from behind the charity line. “They all had the will and desire to make a run in the tournament. They understood the assignment at hand and played great fundamental basketball. Last year we had an early exit and you could tell that did not sit well for them,” said Fisher.