By Milla Butler
Going into sub-districts as the fourth seed is a challenging feat. It is even more difficult when the three seeds ahead of you are in the top 8 teams in the state. However, the 16-5 Silver Lake Mustangs showed up and played the first round of the D2-7 sub-districts like any other game, despite facing the number-one team in D-2 for the second time in just five days. Senior Keaton Karr said, “We knew how important every single game this season was leading up to sub-districts because of how challenging our sub-district was, so we showed up every day to practices and games ready to compete.” For their last regular season game, the Mustangs fell to the Bulldogs on Friday, February 16, 71-44. However, Tuesday was a new day and a new mindset for Silver Lake. “We came into the game a lot more relaxed and confident because we had already played them before. We got off to a hot start until half-time,” Karr added. To start the game, the Mustang’s quick start can be attributed to Karr finding success from behind the arch to hit 3 of his 5 attempts from three-point land. Even when the Mustangs struggled to find the board on their first shot attempt, they completely dominated the rebounds, outrebounding the Bulldogs 38-28. Senior Jordan Faimon, who will play basketball at Hastings College next year, found success with put-backs, grabbing 7 offensive rebounds (11 total rebounds) and adding 18 points for the evening. Silver Lake led going into halftime 30-28. The second half was a dog fight, with the lead switching back and forth. Karr commented that foul trouble and shots not falling contributed to the second-half difficulties. Shelton’s Riley Bombeck and Ashton Simmons found success attacking the rim to give the Bulldogs the advantage down the stretch. The Mustangs had to foul at the end of the fourth quarter, which allowed Bombeck and Simmons to each put in 5 free throws, which ended up sealing the deal for Shelton, finishing on top 63-50. Despite the season ending earlier than they would have liked, Silver Lake had an incredible season, ending the year with a 16-6 record. Karr added, “The success we had this season came as a direct result of the work of our coaches and teammates working hard every single day.” They will lose 6 seniors to graduation next year but will return a group of underclassmen with a lot of experience and drive.