To beat any team eleven consecutive times is a rare feat; however, to beat an athletic, talented rival eleven consecutive and thirteen out of fourteen times is nearly impossible. Yet, headed into the game Tuesday night, MUS was riding such a streak against their neighborhood rival, the CBHS Purple Wave. But led by balanced scoring that saw three Wave players reach double figures, CBHS hit their big shots and put down the Owls in overtime, 53-46, to end the MUS streak.
The two teams came out intense and energetic and both got after each other defensively, especially early on. MUS finally took their first lead late in the second quarter and took a two-point advantage into the break at 18-16.
The Owls extended that lead to eight as Ryan Baum got hot in the third while the Brothers only made one field goal in that quarter. However, after MUS shot too quickly trying to run the third-quarter clock out, CBHS got some momentum as Collin Fahrenkopf hit a three to cut the lead to 35-30 as the buzzer went off.
Then, the Wave got another three on their first fourth-quarter possession, and the game was tight from there. The Owls had a chance to win at the end, but a Derek Clenin shot fell awry as the buzzer sounded, and the game went into the extra period.
The Wave owned the overtime after a MUS mishap on the jump-ball. The Owls had no one back playing defense on the tip, and when Wave center John Winters tipped the ball to Bobby Daush, he hit the open layup as the Brothers never lost the lead from that point. MUS tried to cut the lead as Will Saxton, who finished with 6 points, hit a shot, as did Baum, who tallied 25 on 10-24 shooting; but the Owls never got closer than three points. The Wave went 9-11 on the free-throw line to salt away the important win.
With the loss, the Owls fall to 10-12, 3-3 in the region. They now fall 2 1/2 games behind region-leader Harding, whom MUS plays this Friday night in an away game. MUS is sitting in third currently, tied with Briarcrest at 3-3. Tipoff for the Harding tilt is 7:30PM.